B.J. Penn has never been known as a man that is afraid to speak his mind; he’s virtually filter-less.
During the lead-up towards his rematch with champion Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight strap, Penn spoke candidly about his frustration’s towards UFC president Dana White questioning the Hawaiian on his training regiment in the days leading up to the blockbuster bout.
Needless to say, Penn didn’t take kindly to White’s insinuations and asked if the head honcho needed a “slap“—with all the dirty laundry spilling onto the infamous Prime Time series, which aired on Spike TV for millions of viewers to see.
If there is any one man that doesn’t need a prepared statement to contrive some drama, it’s the always colorful Penn, however, there’s always a first time for everything.
The enigmatic former world champion is currently booked to take on Strikeforce transplant Nick Diaz, where the two men will serve as the co-main event for UFC 137, which takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Originally, Penn was penciled in to meet with budding contender Carlos Condit, but after Diaz no showed at several press junkets, the New Mexico native was bumped to headlining duties thanks to Diaz’s lack of enthusiasm.
The switcheroo caused UFC brass to re-shoot some pre-fight particulars, including the pay-per-view event’s countdown show, which usually airs just days before the card takes place in order to pull in some last minute buys.
Penn had no issue in the tedious endeavor, but what really pushed his buttons was when the media crew coaxed the Hilo boy to manifest unnecessary issue in order to sell the bout.
“They had to come back to film the Nick Diaz countdown. One thing that was a trip about that whole thing was that, I got a lot of respect for Diaz, I’ve trained with him, that whole thing… they forced me to say, at the end of the whole thing, they forced me to say…’You gotta say Nick Diaz’s name now, you gotta say his name'”, began the obviously annoyed Penn.
“And I was like, ‘What?’ They were like, ‘Say you’re going to beat Nick Diaz. Say you’re going to beat Nick Diaz.’ And I said, ‘I’m going to beat Nick Diaz.’ I wish … I would have said my hand is going to be raised; at UFC 137 my hand is going to be raised. I don’t know if they’re going to come back and try to show Nick Diaz that, I don’t know what’s going on with that.”
If there was any one bout that didn’t need any clever hyperbole or some cheesy bravado, it’s a welterweight clash pitting Penn and Diaz together, in a match that is sure to produce fireworks.
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