On Sunday, former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn has retired from MMA at the age of 35.
Penn announced his retirement following a third-round TKO loss to Frankie Edgar at “The Ultimate Fighter” finale.
before the loss to Edgar, Penn (16-10-2) had not fought since losing a unanimous decision to Rory MacDonald in December 2012.
He said at the UFC press conference:
“This is the end,” BJ Penn said as he announced his retirement. “… I would have complained to everyone, ‘I could have done it again! I could have done it again!’ Now, I know for sure that I can’t.”
“This is the end,” Penn said. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why did you step back in the Octagon after the beating Rory MacDonald gave you?’ The reason is I really needed to find out. If I didn’t make this night happen, I would have always wondered.
“I would have complained to everyone, ‘I could have done it again! I could have done it again!’ Now, I know for sure that I can’t.”
So what is next for BJ Penn?
In an interview with tatame (in Portuguese) last year, Penn said:
“I love to fight, get in the octagon and fight someone. I like to train, but it requires a lot of energy … I love everything, but it requires too much energy. “
Fond of competition, BJ can find the answer on the mats in his post-UFC career. as the first non-Brazilian to win a World Jiu-Jitsu Champion in 2000, he can once again wear the gi:
“There’s a chance, actually. Jiu-Jitsu is what I’ll do for the rest of my life, competing in something where I have no risk of brain injury, but once I decide I do not want to fight in the UFC, “said Penn. “I want to make sure that my time in MMA is over. It is a matter of ‘timing’. When I’m sure that I will not fight in the UFC again, I’ll go back. “
In Jiu-Jitsu, Penn won the silver medal at the 1998 World Cup, and won bronze in the following year, as a lightweight. In 2000, three months after receiving his black belt from the hands of Andre Dede Pederneiras, the Hawaiian won the gold medal by beating Edson Diniz in the final.
