Former UFC champion B.J. Penn won’t be fighting at 145 pounds if he chooses to step back into the cage in the future.
B.J. Penn isn’t sure whether he’ll fight again, but if he does, it won’t be in the featherweight division.
The former UFC welterweight and lightweight champion, who denied recent rumors he is fighting newcomer Suman Mokhtarian at UFC 221 in February, told BJPenn.com he hasn’t been focused on getting back into the Octagon since his June loss to Dennis Siver at UFC Fight Night 112. His last three fights, dating back to July 2014, have taken place at 145 pounds, but he plans to only compete at lightweight — or heavier — moving forward.
“I haven’t really been thinking about fighting that much lately. But one thing is for sure: I would never fight at 145 pounds again,” Penn said.
Penn, 39, believes competing at featherweight was a bad decision because of his age. Earlier in his career — perhaps when he reigned over the lightweight division from 2008 to 2010 — dropping down in weight may have been a smart move, the Hawaiian said.
“I should have never fought at 145,” Penn said. “It was a bad decision to move down in weight at my age. Maybe if I had made the move in my early twenties it would have been different. But I did not feel good at 145.”
Penn has fought three times in the past three and a half years. He lost to Frankie Edgar for the third time after coaching The Ultimate Fighter 19 opposite the former UFC champ in 2014. In his return fight earlier this year, he was stopped by rising featherweight Yair Rodriguez. The majority-decision defeat to Siver extended his losing skid to five in a row. Penn hasn’t won since a 2010 stoppage of Matt Hughes.
Penn has competed as high as heavyweight (against Lyoto Machida in 2005). The Edgar trilogy bout was his first time at 145 pounds.