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BJ Penn is now 41 years-old and the loser of seven straight and has looked so feeble inside the cage that UFC President Dana White banned him from competition. So if there are people encouraging “The Prodigy” to compete, they either A) make money from his fights or B) really, really dislike him.
“There’s so many people telling me to fight again,” Penn said on Instagram Live with coach Jason Parillo (via MMA Junkie). “Other people telling me don’t fight again. It’s a lot to take in. If I could get anything else going in life than just a fist fight, it would be nice. But it’s so fun and I love the process and all those things about it. Then you get in the gym and start doing good with active fighters and next thing you know you’re trying to fight and biting off more than you can chew.”
At his peak, Penn (16-14-2) was a ferocious killer, capturing titles in two different weight classes and knocking around some of the top names in the sport. But it’s been almost a decade since the Hall of Famer has seen the win column and when someone with his talent is dropping decisions to the likes of Dennis Siver, it’s time to start asking some hard questions.
“I guess when you have something to prove that’s when you can fight the best,” Penn continued. “It’s like, ‘Hey man, you already proved yourself.’ It’s not about proving myself, I just really like doing this. But you can’t go out and keep getting hurt. That just don’t make sense to anybody.”
Hopefully he feels the same way about his street fighting career.