Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Hall of Famer B.J. Penn will be coming out of retirement this Sunday night (Jan. 15). Staring across from him inside the Octagon will be rising prospect Yair Rodriguez. The bout will headline the upcoming UFC Fight Night event in Phoenix, Arizona.
This will be Penn’s first bout since July 2014. He was dominated by Frankie Edgar in their third bout. Penn was TKO’d in the third round. “The Prodigy” has gone 0-3-1 in his last four outings. The last time the former two-division champion won a fight was in Nov. 2010. In their third and final encounter, Penn knocked out Matt Hughes in 21 seconds.
While many question Penn’s decision to return, the mixed martial arts (MMA) legend has said his heart is still in it. Plus, “The Prodigy” is never one to back down from a fight (via MMAFighting.com):
“I think Yair and his manager saw me training at the gym (at Jackson-Winkeljohn) and thought, ‘this guy doesn’t have it anymore. Let’s fight this guy. He’s a big name, and let’s try to make our name off his.’ And that’s exactly how this fight got put together.”
“El Pantera” has insisted that he never asked for a fight with Penn. “The Prodigy” and members of his gym say otherwise.
“Some people from the gym said, ‘hey, Yair is a p*ssy, he’s going to try to fight you because he thinks you’re older,’ and this and that. ‘His manager is trying to push for the fight.’ And I go, really, huh? I was talking to my buddies in Albuquerque, and then the UFC called me two weeks later and offered me Yair. That’s what it was.”
While Penn feels Rodriguez isn’t taking him seriously, he is taking it in stride. “The Prodigy” welcomes the challenge and dares his opponent to prove he was right.
“I don’t take it as disrespect, I just laugh. And let’s just see. Let’s see if his intuition was correct.”
