The Aftermath Of Penn vs. Hughes III

Added on Nov 22, 2010 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

B.J. Penn fans remember his win over Caol Uno at UFC 34: High Voltage. Penn ran over Uno in 11 seconds with a flying knee KO, and promptly ran out of the stadium. If you noticed him leaving the ring afterward, well, that was why he ran out.

This was a big fight for both fighters, but UFC President Dana White said it was huge for Penn. “I really think if he had lost he would have retired. I can’t speak for him, but he’s B.J. Penn and he would have lost three fights in a row” said White.

Penn came out swinging, and was not interested in a feeling out process. He landed a heavy left hand that sent Hughes to the cage floor, and he finished him with strikes. Not only was BJ Penn back, but it looked like the “Old BJ Penn” was back. “I don’t even think I really set it up,” said Penn. “I was in there to fight. I wanted him to hit me and for me to hit him. I was thinking I wanted to fight like I was a kid. I got into this sport to fight. A lot of people have been questioning if I’m motivated. I wanted to show everyone my fighting spirit. For the last 10 years, I wanted to repeat my Caol Uno fight.”

Penn feels he and Hughes have both evolved as fighters, and what happened, happened in the Octagon. BJ said, “I think we’ve both evolved very much over the years. When a fight goes the way it did tonight, that’s just the way it happened. Who knows how the fight would have played out if it had went longer.” He was also asked about what weight class he would prefer to fight at, he said “You know what? For the first time in my career, I’m going to let Dana make that call.” He concluded “Whatever Dana says, we’ll go with that.”

Dana White said that he’s looking at matching Penn up with Jon Fitch (25-3, 1 no contest) on Feb. 27 in Sydney, Australia. Fitch is the No. 2 welterweight in the UFC behind Georges St. Pierre. The winner of that fight would assuredly get the winner of GSP and Josh Koschek.

Matt Hughes isn’t going to be making any quick decisions on when or if he returns to MMA. Hughes said “Well, he hit me hard and it wasn’t a clip. He hit me hard. I don’t know what the plan is now. I had a perfect training camp. This is one where I’d have paid my purse to put this fight together. This was a huge fight for me. I don’t know what’s next.”

Matt Hughes’ name is already carved in the UFC Hall Of Fame, and Dana White was respectful and remembering the hard work Hughes had put in for the company. Dana seems to want whatever Hughes wants. “Listen, there’s guys that I’ve talked about that have been loyal and have helped build this company. He’s one of those guys. I’ll talk to Matt Hughes next week, or when he’s done hunting. We’ll talk and we’ll figure it out.”