BJ Penn Contemplating Retirement, Struggling To Find Post-UFC Plans
BJ Penn has had a tough last few years of his mixed martial arts career. Now he seems to finally be at the point where he is considering walking away from the sport.
Penn is perhaps one of the best examples of a cautionary tale inside MMA. There was once a point where he was at the pinnacle of the sport, being considered one of the greatest lightweights of all time. Unfortunately that has changed in recent years, as he has not won a fight since 2010, losing a record setting seven fights in that time.
This, combined with some troubling street fight footage, has led many to call for BJ Penn to retire from the sport. However “Baby J” has been hesitant to make that an official announcement, even after his UFC release. Although speaking recently, it seems that he may be changing his mind soon. (h/t MMAJunkie)
“It takes a lot of work,” Penn said on a recent Instagram Live chat with longtime coach Jason Parillo. “It takes too much. Too much (expletive) work. At this age, it just takes too much (expletive) work. You never know what’s going to happen, but it takes so much work.”
Penn goes on to explain that, while there are many people calling for the end of his career, others want to see him fight again.
“There’s so much people telling me to fight again,” Penn said. “Other people telling me don’t fight again. It’s a lot to take in.”
BJ Penn then went on to explain that a big thing that makes him want to keep fighting, is just a lack of other plans. He says that he doesn’t quite know what to do with himself, if he is not preparing for a fist fight.
“If I can get anything else going it would be nice,” Penn said. “If I could get anything else going in life than just a fist fight, it would be nice. But it’s so fun and I love the process and all those things about it. Then you get in the gym and start doing good with active fighters and next thing you know you’re trying to fight and biting off more than you can chew. You might be, you might not be. But the process itself it’s a lot to just do a camp or whatever.”
It is no secret that BJ Penn has a tendency to get involved in bad habits when he is not fighting, and that this is part of the reason the UFC has let him compete so long. Regardless, when you are getting knocked out in street fights as a UFC champion, maybe it is time to hang up the gloves.
