Former UFC champ B.J. Penn isn’t thinking much about a return to MMA right now, but it could happen down the road.
B.J. Penn isn’t committing to an MMA return — but on the other hand, he’s not officially retired, either.
The former UFC welterweight and lightweight champion was present at the UFC Hall of Fame red carpet event last week in Las Vegas, and it’s no surprise he was asked about the chance he steps foot into the Octagon again. Penn admitted that he isn’t sure himself whether or not he plans on fighting again — right now, “The Prodigy” has no plans, he said.
“I don’t know. You never know,” Penn told media at the event (via Severe MMA). “You never know what I’m going to do, but no plans, nothing scheduled.”
Penn (16-12-2) last fought at UFC Fight Night 112 in June 2017, losing to Dennis Siver by majority decision. The Hawaiian is on a five-fight skid and hasn’t won since a 2010 first-round knockout of Matt Hughes.
Penn, widely considered one of the best MMA fighters of all time, last reigned over a division in 2009, when he was the UFC lightweight champion.
As far as what it would take to get Penn back in the cage, it all comes down to who the UFC matchmakers find for him to face.
“Give me a guy that I can beat and I’ll come back,” Penn said.
Penn hasn’t trained much since his Siver loss, he said, but just recently got back into the gym.
“I wasn’t training for the whole time (after the fight), but I just started training the last month or two, because I get just so depressed when I’m out of the gym,” he said. “I gotta get in and work out.”
Day-to-day, Penn works at his taro farm in Hawaii and spends time with his family, which includes dropping his kids off at school and attending their soccer practices.
Whether or not preparing for a fight is added to his list of daily activities is still very much up in the air.