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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC President Dana White said this week that the winner of the UFC 127 main event between B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch would be the "number one guy" to challenge for the UFC Welterweight Championship.
However, though another shot at the UFC Welterweight Title may be in line for him, B.J. Penn still believes his future includes a return to the lightweight division.
There was some doubt about that with comments he made on Tuesday's conference call, though. Penn discussed his displeasure with making the cut to 155 lbs., but did say, when asked if he would never fight at lightweight again, that "Dana wouldn't let that happen."
The comments were construed in some reports to mean he had no plans on going back, but Penn clarified his statements on BJPenn.com this week.
"I just wanted to address something real quick. [Tuesday on the conference call] one of the reporters asked me if I was done fighting at 155 pounds and I said, 'Dana wouldn’t let that happen.' I definitely believe that I’ll be fighting at 155 pounds again. So maybe I was a little miss quoted or maybe the quote came out wrong. But that’s not really important, what’s important is taking on Jon Fitch in Australia. He’s been the man for a long time at welterweight and that’s it, that's the plan."
Penick's Analysis: Penn will make his way back to the lightweight division, but I hope he doesn't continue to hop around. I'd like to see him make a run in one division and stick with it, but B.J. is going to do what B.J. is going to do. If he beats Fitch, he should stay at welterweight and go for a title shot. If he loses, a move back to lightweight could still give him a lot of entertaining matchups. Either way, a B.J. Penn fight will always drive interest, and hopefully he just continues to fight for a while.
[B.J. Penn art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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