B.J. Penn briefly considered retirement after loss, now has no plans to quit

OKLAHOMA CITY – In January, B.J. Penn returned to the UFC for the first time in 2 1/2 years and fought up-and-comer Yair Rodriguez, and it wasn’t even close.

Penn, the former UFC lightweight champion, was thoroughly outclassed for the entire first round before the referee saved him just 24 seconds into Round 2 for a TKO loss at UFC Fight Night 103. The result left many wondering if the 38-year-old Penn should keep on fighting. It even crossed his mind.

But Penn (16-11-2 MMA, 12-10-2 UFC) is back to face Dennis Siver (22-11 MMA, 11-8 UFC) in the FS1-televised main card of UFC Fight Night 112 on Sunday at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.

Even though he admits he thought about retirement in the immediate moments following the loss to Rodriguez, Penn said he snapped out of it right away.

“Right after the fight I was kind of like, “Uh, maybe this is the end.’ I’m talking 5 minutes, 10 minutes after the fight,” Penn told MMAjunkie. “But actually one of my buddies walked up to me, Leroy Padilla, and he said, ‘B.J., you’ve got to fight again.’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about, man?’ From that moment, over time, one or two days, I was like, ‘Let’s do it again.’

He added about being dominated by Rodriguez, “History. That’s ancient history already.”

Penn is moving on to face Siver, a UFC veteran who is coming off a long layoff, having not fought since 2015. “The Prodigy” plans to go out there and get a win, which would be his first since defeating Matt Hughes in 2010 at UFC 123. If Penn does that, expect to see him again inside the octagon.

“We’re going to take this as far as we can go,” Penn said. “We’re going to do good on Sunday. From there, call (UFC matchmaker) Sean (Shelby) and see what’s going on. … Same thing as last time. I’m doing it because I love it.”

Check out our interview above to hear more from Penn.

And for more on UFC Fight Night 112, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.