Ex-champ B.J. Penn ends retirement, but UFC boss still unsure on details

As expected former two-division champ and 2015 UFC Hall of Fame inductee B.J. Penn has ended his retirement. What’s next, though? That’s still to be determined.

During a recent callout of rival Nik Lentz (25-7-2 MMA, 9-4-1 UFC) for a potential bout in March at UFC 197, Penn (16-10-2 MMA, 12-9-2 UFC) seemed to suggest he was ready to return to the cage for the first time since 2014, when he suffered a loss to Frankie Edgar and subsequently announced his retirement.

Today, Penn told “The MMA Hour” he’s officially returning to the cage, and the former welterweight and lightweight champ is focusing his efforts on the featherweight belt. But when reached today by MMAjunkie, UFC President Dana White confirmed he’s talked to Penn about a return and supports the idea, but he said nothing has been decided for the next step.

“(It’s) true,” White wrote via text message when contacted by MMAjunkie. “But I don’t know when or who he will fight.”

Penn, a 37-year-old Hawaiian who used to train out of his home state, also confirmed he’s now working with Jackson-Wink MMA in New Mexico with head trainer Greg Jackson.

White recently said Penn had been harassing him to return to action, though the UFC executive was noncommittal at the time.

Penn most recently appeared in the octagon in July 2014, when he suffered a third loss to Edgar. It marked Penn’s featherweight debut, but he had little to offer Edgar in the new weight class, and he was thoroughly beaten en route to a third-round TKO loss.

It pushed his winless streak to four and marked his sixth unsuccessful trip to the octagon in seven tries. Penn, who will be remembered as one of the best and most important lighter-weight fighters in MMA history, retired from the sport afterward, citing his inability to compete at the top level any longer.

For more on UFC 197, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.