Despite his talk of hanging up the gloves after his recent loss to Nick Diaz last month at UFC 137, former two-division UFC champion ‘The Prodigy’ BJ Penn (16-8-2) is still far from walking away from the top mixed martial arts promotion.
Currently Penn is on a media tour of the Philippines for the UFC, helping to promote the sport and the promotion there.
The former champ is currently blogging for BleacherReport.com and this is what he had to say about the Filipino fans.
We are getting a lot of love out here in the Philippines though. Everyone is great and they are treating me real nice. I have met a lot of people, a lot of big wigs out here, and they are giving us warm welcomes everywhere I go.
They have me on the biggest TV network out here, playing all my fights for the fans and getting the word out as far as promoting this tour goes. I couldn’t ask for more as far as press and coverage is concerned.
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The climax of this tour so far has been today’s open workout at the Mall of Asia. They had me go and workout for the fans, and, man, the Filipino fans are great. I don’t know exactly how many people came out to see me hit pads and work out, but it was a huge mob, several thousands, I couldn’t believe it.
After the workout, I took to the crowd and tried to shake everyone’s hand, give autographs and take pictures, there were too many people to greet everyone, but I hung around as long as I could. It was an honor to represent the UFC out here and give the fans a good show.
Be sure to read ‘The Prodigy’s’ entire blog as he offers some details on his recent acting role on the popular television series, Hawaii Five-O. Just hit the link.