...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The main event of Saturday's UFC 118 event in Boston, Mass. between B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar hasn't been getting nearly as much attention as the night's co-main fight between James Toney and Randy Couture. But despite the lack of hype and coverage for their UFC Lightweight Championship rematch, B.J. Penn comes into the fight with a regained motivation to bounce back following his loss to Edgar in April.
"It is troubling when I look at losses on my record," Penn said in an interview with Chad Dukes and Lavar Arrington on 106.7 the Fan in Washington D.C. (transcribed by SportsRadioInterviews.com). "It’s something that I never wanted but it’s something that has made me who I am. Every time a loss happens I come back stronger. I have never seen a time when I come back weaker.
"I think a lot of it is due to the fact that we really don’t have an amateur career and we don’t duck anybody. You always see people in other sports ducking each other, but Dana White is always going to force you to fight the best guy and that’s the way things go. If you don’t lose than you haven’t fought anybody.”
Penn enters the TD Garden in Boston the favorite, despite being the challenger in this rematch, but he doesn't see Edgar giving him any trouble in this second meeting.
"I don’t think he can match anything that I can do," Penn said. "A lot of people give me flack about my cardiovascular and I keep beating all these cardiovascular machines. I outlast them, I outlast the Kenny Florian’s, the Diego Sanchez’s, and the Sean Sherk’s.
"I feel I got it all and I feel this fight with Frankie Edgar really pushed me to the next level because I think if I would have beat Frankie Edgar I wouldn’t have changed anything and I probably would’ve ended up losing worse later. Everything is a blessing and that’s the way it should be."
Penn will look to begin his quest anew on Saturday night, and if he regains his Lightweight Championship he'll be ready to take on all comers. Penn said in a separate interview with MMAJunkie.com that he's got no time to slow down, and he wants fights against anyone that is ready to fight him, whether it's at lightweight or welterweight.
"When I get past Frankie Edgar, I want to fight everybody," he said. "I'll fight the No. 1 contender all the way to the No. 15 contender. If no one's ready and they need more time to prepare for me, Dana, give me a welterweight fight. I don't care.
"I just want to fight. I can't do this forever. I'm 31 years old. I think I'm in my prime. Let's do it now."
Penick's Analysis: I like this new attitude from Penn, but based on his past many will be skeptical about this drive to continue fighting non-stop. I hope to see it, and I think he'll beat Edgar tomorrow night, so hopefully we get to see him take on everyone that's ready in an every-three-months type schedule. If Penn is ready, willing and able, the UFC can absolutely feature him every three to four months, and having him on fight cards three to four times a year for the next two to three years could be very beneficial to them.
RELATED STORY: UFC 118 PREVIEW: B.J. Penn looking to blow people away in Boston, Frankie Edgar putting aside Penn's aura: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
[B.J. Penn art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
