Last week legendary former UFC lightweight and former UFC welterweight champion BJ “The Prodigy” Penn took to his official twitter account, hinting at a potential return to action and indicating that he would be training with highly touted coach Greg Jackson. Appearing on today’s (January 19, 2016) edition of the MMA Hour, the 37 year
Last week legendary former UFC lightweight and former UFC welterweight champion BJ “The Prodigy” Penn took to his official twitter account, hinting at a potential return to action and indicating that he would be training with highly touted coach Greg Jackson.
Appearing on today’s (January 19, 2016) edition of the MMA Hour, the 37 year old confirmed his comeback, noting that he has his eyes on the featherweight title:
“That’s who I am, Ariel,” Penn told host Ariel Helwani. “That’s who I am. That’s what I do.
“I want to go get that 145-pound belt. That’s definitely a huge motivation for me. I believe with Greg Jackson’s help, I can get that done. And I believe that I will be able to walk away as the only man with three titles in three weight divisions.”
Although it would be incredibly difficult given the current state of his career, Penn would indeed make history if he were able to capture 145-pound gold.
Losing his last three bouts to date, the former two division world champion retired after coming out on the short end of a one sided beating against Frankie Edgar in 2014. Apparently not quite ready to call it quits just yet, “The Prodigy” knows this is his last chance, but with Jackson in his corner he seems confident in his future:
“I’ve been kind of thinking about it for a while. But, this is my last resort, and I’m going to give it everything I got,” Penn said.
“I made sure to tell Greg, I let him know the other day that if I can’t do this, Greg, in any way, shape, or form, you feel that B.J. doesn’t belong in the ring, please let me know. Please let me know. And he’s very confident that we can get something done. With somebody like that, who has so many champions himself and who has does as well as he has in this sport, when he tells me that: ‘I know you can go out and I know you can beat all these guys,’ it gives me a lot of confidence.”
Having not won a single bout since 2010, Penn wants to assure himself that he won’t return in the form he had been fighting in near the tail end of his run, but at the end of the day, he’s eager to challenge himself against the best fighters in the world:
“I don’t want to be a shell of my former self,” Penn said. “And I told Jackson that if I can’t do this, you let me know. You come straight to me, Greg. You see me sparring one day, you look at me and say ‘this guy don’t got it anymore,’ pull the plug right now. I got a wonderful life back in Hawaii. I love my life. But I love fighting more.
“I realize what I’m up against. I’ll go out right now and give all my respect to these guys. These guys are animals. These guys are the best athletes in the world, and I want to go and take my place among them.”
Although the cards seemed to be stacked against him, Penn is a special type of athlete, and Jackson is notorious for reviving the careers of those who have seemed to be passed by.
As for what the future holds, UFC President Dana White also confirmed the news, but has nothing planned as of now:
“(It’s) true,” White wrote via text message when contacted by MMAjunkie. “But I don’t know when or who he will fight.”
Who would you like to see “The Prodigy” return against?
If you though BJ Penn was staying retired, think again. You have to check out Nik Lentz’s reaction to Penn’s statement though, it’s priceless… Former UFC welterweight and lightweight champ BJ Penn recently announced he was training at the famed Jackson’s MMA with fellow ex-champion Jon Jones. He issued a stern challenge to his rival
If you though BJ Penn was staying retired, think again. You have to check out Nik Lentz’s reaction to Penn’s statement though, it’s priceless…
Former UFC welterweight and lightweight champ BJ Penn recently announced he was training at the famed Jackson’s MMA with fellow ex-champion Jon Jones. He issued a stern challenge to his rival Nik Lentz, stating he wanted to fight ‘The Carny’ at UFC 197. It all stemmed from an offensive poem that Lentz wrote about Penn and his family, that got the Hawaiian BJJ ace all riled up, and now looking like he is fully ready to make his comeback to MMA.
BJ Penn and Ronda Rousey during a recent grappling session…
So the news of Penn’s potential comeback hasn’t even began to settle in, and already Lentz has fired back with a wicked comeback, half statement, and half poem. Who’d have known that Nik Lentz was such a poet? This runs a lot deeper than just a little beef before a potential fight though, the situation with famed nutritionist Mike Dolce is embroiled in this whole saga too.
‘The Prodigy’ had hired Mike Dolce to handle his gruesome final weight cut for his trilogy making fight against Frankie Edgar back in 2014. Of course we now know that Penn had no business fighting at featherweight, where Frankie is more of a beast than he was at lightweight in all fairness. As it was, BJ got smashed, but he came out and blasted Dolce in the media after the fight, claiming he hadn’t done his job at all, and refusing to pay the dietary advisor the $22,000 that was owed to him.
So there’s the background of this beef, with the most recent shots coming from BJ Penn during his video with Jon Jones.
Lentz’s hilarious reaction is so long that we dedicated a whole page to it, skip to page 2 to see it…
Despite not scoring a win since 2010, having his soul stolen by Frankie Edgar in his last octagon appearance, and admitting that he “shouldn’t have come back” before emotionally retiring for realsies in the evening’s post-fight press conference, BJ Penn…wants to come back. And not only that, he wants to come back to face Nik Lentz, who has been goading him into a fight on social media for months now, in March. This is sad, we’re all sad for hearing it, so on and so forth…
It all started when Penn snapped the above photo with Greg Jackson, with the caption “We coming!” Jackson later told reporters that he was “very optimistic” about Penn’s future following a meeting with the former two-division champion, who then proceeded to formally challenge Lentz to a fight at UFC 197 on March 5th.
Penn chose an ambitious timetable for his return, to say the very least, and yesterday evening, Lentz responded with what must be the most cold-blooded takedown in the history of combat sports.
Despite not scoring a win since 2010, having his soul stolen by Frankie Edgar in his last octagon appearance, and admitting that he “shouldn’t have come back” before emotionally retiring for realsies in the evening’s post-fight press conference, BJ Penn…wants to come back. And not only that, he wants to come back to face Nik Lentz, who has been goading him into a fight on social media for months now, in March. This is sad, we’re all sad for hearing it, so on and so forth…
It all started when Penn snapped the above photo with Greg Jackson, with the caption “We coming!” Jackson later told reporters that he was “very optimistic” about Penn’s future following a meeting with the former two-division champion, who then proceeded to formally challenge Lentz to a fight at UFC 197 on March 5th.
Penn chose an ambitious timetable for his return, to say the very least, and yesterday evening, Lentz responded with what must be the most cold-blooded takedown in the history of combat sports.
Check it out below, via MMAFighting, then down a shot every time you recoil from the absolute savagery of Lentz’s words. You will be dead within 3 paragraphs.
BJ, I received your poorly-worded, utterly predictable, message. In spite of its clumsy structure, awful spelling, incorrect usage (you state at one point that I wrote a poem about you making fun of yourself), and general air of arrogance, entitled stupidity, I’m considering your request.
There are, of course, some conditions.
– I’m never competing at 145 ever again. Neither should you. I came to this conclusion after doing careful research, and deciding what was right for my long-term health as well as my short-term performance. If you fight at 145, it won’t be long before you’re eating banana mush in a nuthouse. I am accountable to my family, and my future with them. Because you are an impulsive tyrant surrounded by yes-men, you have no ability to make rational, intelligent decisions. So I am making this one for you. If we fight, it would be at 155.
– I’m not fighting in March. Neither are you. You may imagine you are, and the imbeciles you surround yourself with may nod in agreement like the trained dogs they are, but you aren’t fighting in March. You’ve lied to your fans, and let them down over and over, and nobody is clamoring to put the BJ PENN EXCUSE FACTORY back in business. Were I to agree to fight you in March and whup your ass, it would only give you and your lackeys the “BJ didn’t have enough time” bullshit excuse. Additionally, if we do fight, it will be on MY timetable, NOT yours. You are retired, and have no schedule. I am an active fighter, on the roster, with a schedule and training platform that is not beholden to your desires, grudges, or need for narcissistic supply.
– You still owe Mike Dolce $22,000. Knowing him, he is too gracious and dignified a man to revisit the traitorous back-stabbing skullduggery you engaged in with him after the third time Frankie Edgar kicked your ass inside-out. I, however, don’t have the luxury of grace, and dignity is best left out of any exchange that includes you. You will donate $22,000 of your purse to the HAWAII DOG FOUNDATION, a no-kill, all-volunteer rescue organization working hard to rescue and rehabilitate dogs in Hawaii, in Mike Dolce’s name.
Give these conditions some thought. They are non-negotiable. They are rules you WILL abide by, or you can go whistle. I have a contract, and plenty of guys to fight. As a Narcissist, you have nothing but an image. And you NEED attention. You have all the money you could ever spend; but it doesn’t satisfy you. I have what you NEED. I’M in charge. You can do what narcissists usually do when confronted by a higher power; SLINK AWAY. Or you can confront your needs, realize I can fulfill them, and come to terms with me, looming over you, holding the….
WHIP HAND.
I’m ALREADY in charge, you poor, deluded, fool. I did more to motivate you with TWO POEMS than all your yes-men, and titles, and highlights could. Get as angry as you want. Go out behind your huge inherited estate and kick rocks. Go cry to your Mommy. Go shit in your hat and bark at the moon. You want to fight? Then it’s on MY terms. FACE IT.
Now run along, little man. Go find a way to swallow your overarching pride and do it MY way, or scuttle about like a deformed crab at low tide, like a masochist at last call, desperately looking for somebody else to thrash you.
You can go to Greg Jackson’s, you can go to Jermaine Jackson’s, you can listen to Mahalia Jackson, you can resurrect Jackson fuckin’ POLLOCK to paint you a better picture of yourself than the one we all see; but…
You’re an unclaimed, busted-down suitcase on a dusty shelf in an abandoned bus-terminal. Accept my conditions, or rot in obscurity.
Nik Lentz Your BOSS”
With all due respect to Penn, I don’t think there’s a thing he could do to Lentz physically that would match the — and I hate to repeat myself here — absolute savagery of what was just said here. This message is the absolute pinnacle of the pen being mightier than the sword, and though I doubt he’ll take our advice, Penn would be best off to just stay retired.
Then again, Motivated Penn is perhaps the most dominant fighter this planet has ever known, above that of even Sea Level Velasquez, “Look in His Eyes” Chuck, and Full Camp Mendes. By Lentz’s own admission, he has motivated Penn more with a poem (which you can read here) “than all your yes-men, and titles, and highlights could.” So the question now becomes: Is Greg Jackson the man to bring Motivated Penn out from hiding, or is BJ just setting himself up for another tearful goodbye?
It looks as though former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion and MMA legend BJ Penn is coming back to the fight game… Former two-weight UFC champion BJ Penn left the sport he once dominated on a terribly low note. Without a win since 2010, ‘The Prodigy’entered his 2014 trilogy maker with Frankie Edgar looking like
It looks as though former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion and MMA legend BJ Penn is coming back to the fight game…
Former two-weight UFC champion BJ Penn left the sport he once dominated on a terribly low note. Without a win since 2010, ‘The Prodigy’entered his 2014 trilogy maker with Frankie Edgar looking like a totally different fighter. For starters the bout was at featherweight, and Penn looked more like an anaemic E.T than the cold blooded killer of his prime days, and his gameplan was truly shot.
Using absurdly bad footwork and sloppy striking, Penn was handled easily by ‘The Answer’ and got finished with an ugly TKO. Retiring immediately after the fight, the MMA world waved goodbye to one of the most beloved legends of the sport. Then, this past week, BJ teased a comeback via his Twitter account, and had the MMA world once again talking about ‘The Prodigy.’
After his foray in to the world of retirement, Penn was called out repeatedly by current UFC lightweight and former featherweight contender Nik Lentz. ‘The Carny’ even wrote a poem about BJ and his family that seemed to have struck a nerve with the former champion, as he later responded with some angry comments. But’s that’s not all, a video uploaded to MMA Digeston youtube shows BJ Penn training with ex-light heavyweight champ Jon Jones at Greg Jackson’s, and suggests ‘The Prodigy’ is in training for a comeback at UFC 197. Check it out:
Great news for fans of the Hawaiian grappling whizz, although at 37 years of age will he be able to have an impact against even the mid tier fighters at lightweight? Challenging Nik Lentz to meet him at UFC 197 on March 5, 2015, it probably won’t be long until we find out.
Stay tuned to LowKick MMA for more updates as hey come in!
“The Natural Born Killer” is back, ladies and gentlemen.
It’s an easy declaration to make with Fight Night 67 now in the rearview mirror, but heading into last weekend’s epically-unattended-but-actually-quite-entertaining card, many of us feared that we would be in store for a Carlos Condit performance that showed every bit the wear and tear that a near 50-fight veteran coming of ACL surgery could. We expected this fight to be the first sign in the downswing of Condit, by my God were we wrong.
In a vintage Condit performance — from his aggressive, eight-limbed attack right down to the pools of blood that painted the canvas when all was said and done — the former interim welterweight champion thrashed a battle ready Thiago Alves until the ringside doctor’s said no more. It was an inspiring, technically brilliant display from Condit, and one that launched him right back into the title picture with a resounding…crunch of nose bones being broken.
“The Natural Born Killer” is back, ladies and gentlemen.
It’s an easy declaration to make with Fight Night 67 now in the rearview mirror, but heading into last weekend’s epically-unattended-but-actually-quite-entertaining card, many of us feared that we would be in store for a Carlos Condit performance that showed every bit the wear and tear that a near 50-fight veteran coming of ACL surgery could. We expected this fight to be the first sign in the downswing of Condit, by my God were we wrong.
In a vintage Condit performance — from his aggressive, eight-limbed attack right down to the pools of blood that painted the canvas when all was said and done — the former interim welterweight champion thrashed a battle ready Thiago Alves until the ringside doctor’s said no more. It was an inspiring, technically brilliant display from Condit, and one that launched him right back into the title picture with a resounding…crunch of nose bones being broken.
After the jump: Highlights from Condit-Alves, Oliveira-Lentz + more, plus the full results from Fight Night 67.
(Condit-Alves highlights, via UFC on FOX)
The co-main event of last weekend’s card turned out to be an equally entertaining affair, as Charles Oliveira and Nik Lentz threw down for the second time with redemption on the line for both men. Lentz and Oliveira first fought way back in 2011, with the back-and-forth fight being declared a No Contest after Oliveira landed an illegal knee on Lentz in a scramble. Lucky for us, the rematch was just as gritty and memorable as the first time around, albeit with a much more defining ending.
And finally, the co-co-main event of the evening, former Strikeforce EliteXC lightweight champion KJ Noons continued with his up-and-down UFC run by dropping a first round submission to the heavily-favored Brazilian Alex Oliveira in a welterweight contest. To say that Noons was ever really in this one would be a bit of a stretch, but it appears that the former boxer definitely took Oliveira too lightly once things hit the canvas. The loss drops Noons to 13-8-1 overall, while “Cowboy” improved to 11-2.
(When we get around to writing that list of “Top Ten Sort of Decent Rematches That Never Happened,” this one will definitely land around #8. / Photo via MMAJunkie)
Oliveira, who was getting over a viral infection he contracted in Brazil, had a relapse earlier this week and missed weight for the bout Thursday, coming in at 150 pounds. He did not attempt to weigh in again. This morning, the Brazilian fell ill, and after being seen by a doctor he was pulled from the bout. The UFC Fight Night event at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut will proceed as scheduled with nine bouts.
(When we get around to writing that list of “Top Ten Sort of Decent Rematches That Never Happened,” this one will definitely land around #8. / Photo via MMAJunkie)
Oliveira, who was getting over a viral infection he contracted in Brazil, had a relapse earlier this week and missed weight for the bout Thursday, coming in at 150 pounds. He did not attempt to weigh in again. This morning, the Brazilian fell ill, and after being seen by a doctor he was pulled from the bout. The UFC Fight Night event at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut will proceed as scheduled with nine bouts.