BJ Penn Training With Two Former Champions For UFC Return
After five straight losses, many believe MMA legend BJ Penn should hang up his gloves.
But the soon-to-be 40-year-old doesn’t believe so himself. ‘The Prodigy’ is set to return against fellow grappling wiz Ryan Hall at December 29’s UFC 232. It’s not exactly a high-profile match-up, and it comes on the heels of a loss to also-ran Dennis Siver in June 2017.
Despite that, Penn isn’t giving up. He recently told his website BJPenn.com that he’s actually planning to re-sign with the UFC for four more fights. To get ready for those fights, he’s trainnig with former UFC champs Jose Aldo and Renan Barao at Brazil’s Nova Uniao:
“I’m just in the process of finalizing a new four-fight contract with the UFC. Everything is going good. I am down here in Brazil. Andre Pederneiras is running the camp. Leo Santos is doing the jiu-jitsu, and Johnny Eduardo is helping me with my striking. Aldo and Barao are both around helping. There is just so many young tough guys here, it is honestly unreal.”
In A Good Spot
The former two-division UFC champ revealed that he feels at home under the tutelage of Pederneiras. He became the first non-Brazilian to win a world jiu-jitsu championship training with “Dede” and he feels he could win another belt in MMA again:
“I’m in a good place right now. I’m out here training and I’m focused. I have my life straight and I am ready to go man. The last time I came down here (to Brazil) and trained for something, I became the first foreigner to win the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships. I love it down here. Andre (Pederneiras) is like a father to me. All of the training he is having me do, it has me feeling like I could go win another championship.”
Penn will meet Hall, the TUF winner who himself has been out since December 2016. Despite Hall’s track record on the ground, Penn said he heard his opponent had been training more striking:
“I recently watched the Gray Maynard fight. I hear that he (Hall) is doing a lot of stand-up in preparation for our fight. But I have my own gameplan and I am ready to execute.”
No matter where Hall wants to battle, Penn said he would be ready. If he truly fought him standing as his training would suggest, that’s fine. If Hall wanted to go to his strengths on the ground, Penn promised to finish him there:
“Wherever the fight takes place is fine with me. If he wants to do stand-up we can do that. If he wants to go to the ground we can do that as well. I feel comfortable no matter where the fight takes place. If he wants to battle on the ground that is fine. I’ll take him to the ground and I’ll finish him there.”
