In what may come as a relief to some of his most loyal fans, B.J. Penn says we’ve seen the last of him at featherweight.
The 39-year-old Penn has long been an icon in the MMA world due to his exploits at 155 and 170 pounds that saw him take on all comers and win UFC titles in both weight classes during the 2000s. However, the latter stages of his career have been filled with disappointment as he has gone 1-7-1 since April 2010.
A three-fight stint at featherweight provided no cure for the Hawaiian’s woes as he was TKO’d by Frankie Edgar and Yair Rodriguez before losing a majority decision to Dennis Siver this past June.
Rumors began circulating over the weekend that “The Prodigy” was set to fight Suman Mokhtarian in a 145-pound bout at UFC 221 on Feb. 11, but Penn shot the matchup down in an interview with BJPenn.com.
“I wish,” Penn said. “But as of right now there is no plans of me fighting.”
Despite his struggles, Penn has previously stopped short of announcing his retirement (which would be the third time he has done so), though he confessed that he doesn’t “feel the fire to compete right now.”
Penn appears to be done with making the cut to 145 should he decide to put the gloves on again and he regrets ever having done so in the first place.
“I should have never fought at 145,” Penn said. “It was a bad decision to move down in weight at my age. Maybe if I had made the move in my early 20s it would have been different. But I did not feel good at 145.”
