June 8, 2012 – As you may or may not have heard, Hawaiian “Prodigy” B.J. Penn has recently once again proclaimed his emergence from quasi-retirement by accepting the challenge of Canadian upstart Rory MacDonald – a fighter who everyone from Joe Rogan to Georges St. Piere himself has already proclaimed “the next GSP.”
Penn originally proclaimed he was done following the beating he took against Nick Diaz at UFC 137 this past September. “I’m done,” he said. “I don’t want to go home looking this.”
Time is the greatest healer though and slowly but surely, B.J. started expressing hints of yet another comeback. He turned down a fight with top-ranked Gilbert Melendez in Strikeforce presumably because he felt moving to that org would be a step down but the MacDonald one seems to have aroused his curiosity for a number of reasons.
For one, MacDonald is ‘the next big thing,’ according to both his performances and public perception. At just 22 years of age, he’s already compiled a 13-1 record with his only loss being to #1 welterweight contender Carlos Condit in a ‘fight of the night’ efort in June 2010. Since then he’s posted 3 wins in a row, including one over the ever-improving Nate Diaz. Beating him would show the world that Penn is not out of the loop yet when it comes to being a top fighter to be reckoned with.
Likewise, Rory also represents a familiar challenge because he trains at the same Tristar gym in Montreal that is home to another Penn nemesis in the aforementioned Georges St. Pierre. “There’s no bad blood but I want another crack at them. I want another crack at the team,” BJ recently mentioned in an interview with MMA Uncensored Live.
He did not mention it but if he was to beat MacDonald, this could open the way for him and GSP once again. Whether that fight is something the public would demand is another story altogether but as a fighter, surely BJ would want a chance to get those losses back – grease gate and all.
Ultimately though, this fight is just about B.J. Penn wanting to take on the toughest of challenges as his main impetus for fighting.
Despite the criticisms he’s endured throughout his career about not living up to his potential, one can’t deny that he’s never turned down a challenge. The guy has fought the best of the best throughout – even going as far as to fight Lyoto Machida at light-heavyweight.
Rory MacDonald is just another one of those tough challenges for him like Machida, St, Pierre, Frankie Edgar, and the rest were. Maybe he’s even one that could get him really motivated to perform at his best – even if it’s for that proverbial “one last time.”
“I’m just coming back and doing this fight and I am pretty sure this is the last fight on my contract,” Penn said recently on Just Scrap Radio. “I will have to go back and check, but I think this is the last fight on my contract. I would like to finish out my contract. I am going to go to the belly of the beast. I just want to go over there and take care of this. I am going to go to the belly of the beast and see a fire-breathing dragon and take out my sword.”
Though currently unconfirmed, Penn vs. MacDonald is speculating to take place at UFC 152 on September 22, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario.
The belly of the beast indeed.