Is Josh Koscheck the Fighter to Pull BJ Penn Back into the UFC Octagon?

Following his last fight, a loss to Nick Diaz at UFC 137 late last year, B.J. Penn all but signed his retirement papers.

“I’ve got a daughter, another daughter on the way, I don’t want to go home looking like this. I’m done,” he said before he walked out of the Octagon, his face battered and bruised.

Penn has since waffled on whether or not he is truly done, saying he’s enjoying life as a retired fighter, but falling short of saying that he would never return.

UFC president Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva, however, are working their magic, trying to make it as difficult as possible for Penn to walk away for good. Knowing it is going to take more than just a typical fight to light a fire in the Hawaiian, they are dangling rather large carrots in front of him.

Having already tried to talk Penn into a fight against Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce lightweight title – an offer he declined – it now appears that a bout with Josh Koscheck is in the offing.

“UFC just offered me to fight BJ Penn…I said YES!!!!!” Koscheck wrote on his official Twitter account on Wednesday night. “Just waiting on him!!!!!! Let’s scrap bra?”

There was no immediate response from Penn, who has been rather calculated of late. He put a lot of thought, together with his team, into the Melendez offer prior to turning it down. He’s likely to do the same with any offer to fight Koscheck.

Will B.J. Penn come out of the shadows and back into the limelight to face Koscheck, or is the Hawaiian truly ready to settle down with his family and ride the waves crashing onto the shores of his Hawaiian home?

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