BJ Penn ‘Warming Up' to a UFC Return
The "is he, isn't he" saga of a B.J. Penn return to the Octagon continues.
It seems almost every day that there is a new rumor about Penn's UFC return. One minute he's happily retired, enjoying family life, while the next there's a plan mapped out to draw him back to the fight game.
There is some truth to rumors that he could be returning, but nothing as definitive as fans of the Hawaiian might hope.
“I'm kind of warming up to the idea a little,” Penn told Jay Glazer on a recent edition of UFC Tonight.
“I haven't really made up my mind either way.”
The one thing he was definite about was that a return to fighting isn't in his immediate future. “No time table. It ain't gonna be any time in the next couple months, that's for sure.”
Josh Koscheck recently took to Twitter, saying that he had been offered a fight against Penn, but nothing ever came of it. Penn retorted on his Twitter account that he wasn't coming back “anytime soon,” sticking to the line he toed on UFC Tonight.
Prior to the Koscheck speculation, UFC president Dana White confirmed a fight had been in the works to have Penn challenge Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez, but he turned that down, as well.
So if he's “warming up” to the idea of a return, what would it take to get Penn back in the Octagon?
“I don't want any freebie fights,” he stated. “I would like to put together a fight that makes sense, one, for everybody. And number two, a big fight that people would be interested in and they want to watch.”
Just who that might be, Penn fell short of answering, although he sounded as if he was leaning towards lightweight as his division of choice if he were to return.
Glazer kept pressing Penn for a definitive answer, but all he got was a definite “maybe.”
So the world keeps turning and Penn fans keep wondering if the legendary fighter will ever set foot in the Octagon again.
Follow @KenPishna on Twitter or e-mail Ken Pishna.
For more UFC News and UFC Rumors, follow MMAWeekly.com on Twitter and Facebook.
