B.J. Penn decided to come back to the UFC late last year following a conversation he had with UFC President Dana White on the phone.
Penn decided he would drop down to the featherweight division to have his trilogy matchup with Frankie Edgar and coach against him during “The Ultimate Fighter 19.”
During the International Fight Week On-Sale/Kickoff Press Conference on Friday, Penn explained how everything worked out and the decision to move down to featherweight did not take long due to the fact that he would get another opportunity to face Edgar.
“One day me and Dana were talking and I wanted to come back and try another fight with Frankie Edgar again,” Penn said. “I was talking to Dana and seeing what fights were out there. Dana said, ‘why do you want to come back?’ I said, ‘I want to take another shot at Frankie so I will fight a couple of fights to get to him.’ Dana said there might be an opening now but it’s at a lower weight so you make that decision and give me a call back. Before I hung up the phone, I knew the answer was going to be yes. So I am real excited how all of this turned out.”
Penn will face Edgar in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on July 6th in Las Vegas. If White or the UFC told Penn he would need to take another fight besides Edgar at featherweight, he stated that he would not be dropping down to the 145 pound division.
Since the announcement of his comeback, Penn has stated that he was planning to do his training camp for this fight in Brazil in the Nova Uniao team. However, with the recent robbery that happened with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Penn wants to reevaluate the situation now.
“We have our tickets,” Penn said. “Everything is ready and set to go. I am getting a little bit flack from my family at this point now from my wife and mother about going down there with everything happening with Shogun and everybody. They are trying to talk to me but I am trying to keep myself stress free as possible. We have a couple of big decisions to make over the next three days.”
It seems like anytime Penn talks to the media, his future in the sport comes up. Penn made it clear that he is just taking it one fight at a time so I’m sure this question will come up no matter whether he wins or losses on July 6th against Edgar.