Veteran Penn as unpredictable as ever

LAS VEGAS – B.J. Penn has something up his sleeve. He just has to.

The guy who UFC president Dana White said is "really nutty" has been too acquiescent, too calm, too accepting of all the hoopla that has surrounded him ever since he was pushed from the undercard of UFC 137 to its main event against Nick Diaz.

Penn has raved about Diaz. He insisted Diaz has "the best boxing in MMA, by far," and called Diaz' jiu-jitsu game "right up there with anybody's."

He's happy, he says, softly. No complaints.

On Saturday, he'll meet Diaz at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in one of the more pivotal fights of his illustrious career. Penn is 32 now and has not been so much "The Prodigy" in recent years as he has become "The Enigma."

He might be the most hard-to-figure guy in the sport, and that's saying something with a mercurial personality like Diaz in the same division.

"If I was in my 20s, I might be complaining, all upset," Penn said. "But I've been around too long. I understand this is the part of the business. Dana has a job to do and he had to shuffle the card around a little bit. It takes some adjustments, but you know, no problem. I'm happy to do whatever Dana and the Fertittas [the UFC co-owners] want. I can handle it."

Penn wasn't so mellow in early September when he answered his phone to find White on the other end. Penn was training to face Carlos Condit on the undercard of UFC 137, but Diaz had missed several press conferences to promote the show and White had yanked him off of the main event.

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Yahoo! Sports Radio: B.J. Penn on UFC 137]

He moved Condit into the main event against champion Georges St. Pierre and told Penn to sit tight.

A few days later, White called and offered Penn a fight against Diaz. It wasn't a short or an easy conversation.

"As I travel around, I talk to all these fans and so many of them say, 'Oh Dana, you have the greatest job in the world. I want your job,' " White told Yahoo! Sports on Sept. 9. "They have no clue. They have no clue how wrong they are. Every day I wake up, every day of my life, I have to deal with problems. If anybody knew what I went through, they definitely wouldn't want this job.

"Every day of my life, I have to deal with this [expletive]. Try dealing with these nut cases putting this [Penn-Diaz] fight together. They're crazy and I think their camps are crazy."

Something happened between Sept. 9 and now, though, and Penn's demeanor is markedly different. In nearly all of his public appearances, he's been the picture of equanimity. He hasn't gotten rattled or angry, nor has he lashed out at UFC management. He's toed the company line. He's sung his opponent's praises.

That's just not B.J. Penn.

B.J. Penn is the guy who is always rattling someone's cage. He's got an acerbic tongue and puts it to good use. He's been one of the few UFC fighters willing to mix it up with White.

This time around, though, there have been no zingers and no confrontations with White. Penn's made his public appearances, done his work and promised only to put on a good fight.

It could be, as he says, maturity. At 32 and after more than a decade in the sport, he may have finally gotten it. More likely, though, it just might be that he believes he's better off playing the mellow fellow against the emotional Diaz, whose mood swings are legendary.

Diaz is 28, only four years younger than Penn, but was still in high school when Penn debuted in the UFC and was instantly dubbed "The Prodigy." Diaz said he only accepted the fight because Penn signed for it first. Diaz didn't want to fight Penn because the two have had some sort of loose relationship in the past.

"I have a rule, I don't fight friends, people I know," Diaz said. "He signed first, so I said, 'All right.' But I didn't want this. I don't like to fight people I know."

Diaz not only looked up to Penn in the early days of the UFC, but he helped Penn train for several fights. Penn at one time did some training with Diaz coach Cesar Gracie, further cementing a bond with Diaz, who is exceptionally devoted to Gracie.

Penn is as sly as they come, and he knows how all of this is weighing on Diaz. Things are rarely what they seem with Penn. When he's low key and soft spoken, blending into the background, rest assured that something is bubbling beneath the surface. The best bet is that Penn's calm approach is simply a psychological trick he's trying to play.

[ Related: Watch UFC 137 on Yahoo! Sports ]

Those around Penn say he wants the fight badly, because he wants to make one last run at a UFC title. The former welterweight and lightweight champ is just 2-2-1 in his last five fights and hasn't looked like the killer he was as ran roughshod over the lightweight division in 2008 and 2009.

But since perhaps the most devastating performance of his career, a brutal beating of Diego Sanchez in a lightweight title fight at UFC 107, Penn has lost back-to-back bouts against Frankie Edgar, moved to welterweight and knocked out Matt Hughes in the first round and then fought to a draw with Jon Fitch.

He's still an elite talent – He has arguably the best boxing in the sport and he's still more flexible than Gumby – but the UFC is a results-based organization.

A loss to Diaz would leave him 2-3-1 in his last six and then fighting to retain relevance.

He's not ready to give up hope yet, and he says that he thinks his best days as a fighter are ahead of him.

"I think I have more left to give," he says.

And he's trained for his bout on Saturday like he wants to prove that, not only to the fans but also to himself.

Penn's frequently gone through the motions in training for past bouts, but the word from his camp is that he's been as committed as he's been for a long while.

"He's hungry for this fight, and if you know B.J., you know that's the most important thing," Parillo said. "He can easy get persuaded, or distracted and messed up in the head and not focus so much on the fight, or the task in front of him. This fight, he has had his focus fully on it."

Penn has long been one of the most physically talented guys in the sport, but, much to White's consternation, he hasn't always gotten the most out of his talent.

[Related: B.J. Penn won't read his own hype]

When he's gotten hot, something other than fighting has grabbed his attention and he reverted back to being the old B.J.

"When he goes on a good little winning streak, he gets kind of bored, I think," Parillo said. "He gets a little complacent, I believe. Look, he's a very smart guy and he starts thinking about a lot of different things. When he does that, it makes it hard for him to focus on exactly what it is he needs to be doing, and that's fighting."

There's a very real sense, though, that he's into Saturday's fight. He knows as well as anyone how good Diaz is and how much a win over him will mean.

And so, Penn has dutifully prepared while quietly, perhaps slyly, allowing the spotlight to shine on Diaz. The spotlight is not where Diaz likes to be. When Diaz spoke to the media on Wednesday at The Ultimate Fighter gym, he was fully cooperative, but clearly uncomfortable. His eyes gazed at the floor nearly the entire time and he sighed audibly multiple times.

Have no doubt that Penn knew exactly how uncomfortable Diaz was.

He hasn't said much of substance in the run-up to the bout, and certainly nothing that Diaz could use as bulletin board material.

He's been quiet, but he's been working overtime with the mind games.

It's B.J. Penn, after all. He's got an angle for everything.

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