BJ Penn News: 'The Prodigy' Comes Out Of Retirement, Has Featherweight Title In His Sights
Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion B.J. Penn has officially come out of retirement.
The 37-year-old mixed martial art fighter, who goes by the nickname "The Prodigy," announced his retirement from professional prizefighting in July 2014 after being dominated by former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in their rubber match at the Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale.
Since then, he kept himself in the sidelines until recently, when he announced that he was coming out of his relatively short-lived retreat.
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In an interview with MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani during an episode of "The MMA Hour," Penn revealed that he was now working with renowned trainer Greg Jackson in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jackson, of course, is the mentor of former 205-pound champion Jon Jones, 155-pound title contender Donald Cerrone, flyweight title contender John Dodson, and UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm.
Penn also revealed that he had a serious conversation with Jackson about whether or not making a return at this stage of his life would be a good idea. According to him, Jackson gave his full blessing and showed confidence that Penn would indeed be able to make a strong comeback.
"I'm coming back for honor," Penn said. "I'm coming back to do this, give everything I got, and when I look back, everybody is going to say: 'you know what? B.J. f*****g did it. B.J. f*****g stepped up."
Penn recently issued a challenge to featherweight fighter Nik Lentz, as the two men have been beefing since the past year.
As of the moment, it has been merely a trade of tirades between both men and nothing has been made official. He did confirm that he would be fighting at 145-pounds, the third weight class he would be competing at in the UFC.
That being said, he also declared his intent to fight for the title, down the line.
"I want to go get that 145-pound belt," Penn said. "That's definitely a huge motivation for me. I believe with Greg Jackson's help, I can get that done."
