Pace not slowing, but Penn says he may retire at 35
Just weeks away from his 32nd birthday, BJ Penn shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, it took less…
Just weeks away from his 32nd birthday, BJ Penn shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, it took less than two hours from the time he knocked out Matt Hughes at UFC 123 until the time the UFC announced he’d be facing Jon Fitch in the main event of UFC 127 in February.
That bout will mark the sixth fight for Penn in 18 months, a pace he hasn’t approached since he was a 22-year-old UFC rookie and fought six times in 16 months from May 2001 to September 2002.
Yet despite his good health and the recent flurry of activity, Penn says he’s not likely to fight much longer.
“I’m 31 right now. I want to fight a lot more until I’m 35 and then maybe call it quits,” he said after overwhelming Hughes in just 21 seconds.
Whether Penn will one day change his mind and retire ahead of his projected date or fight well beyond it remains to be seen, but so does the rest of his future arc.
Penn said that for the first time in his career, he would let UFC president Dana White determine if he should fight as a lightweight or welterweight.
“Whatever Dana says, I’ll go with that,” he said, much to White’s surprise.