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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
On Dec. 8, B.J. Penn will return to the cage for the first time since October of last year. He had retired after his loss to Nick Diaz, but time out of the cage made him want to come back to the sport, and he's feeling as prepared as ever for his fight with Rory MacDonald.
He posted a video this week almost on weight already, looking as in-shape as he's looked in some time, and in an interview with Yahoo! Sports, he explained why he wanted to come back.
"You know, I just like it," he said. "I like fighting. I like going to the gym. I like the competition. I'm still just as good as anyone else, the top world-class guys. I can hang with them. I can do good with them."
"I was sitting around and I started thinking, 'Why am I not fighting?' I guess I should have changed the name of the book to, 'Why am I not fighting?' But I missed it and I am still young enough and good enough to do it, so I decided to fight again."
Penn said his decision to walk away last year was a result of disappointment over the last several fights he had, but he still thinks he can compete with the best, and is out to prove as much in Seattle on Fox.
"The way my last five fights were going, I hated that," Penn said. "The kind of losses I had, a draw, a decision [victory], I just didn't like how the fights were going."
"I can sit here and say I found a newborn fire and repeat all these cliches, whatever. I'm not going to do that. What I am going to say is that I'm enjoying this training camp. I did a lot of sparring and I began to enjoy that. It was tough to get in there after a year off, and my timing and everything took a long time to get back. But I am being honest when I say I've had fun."
Penick's Analysis: We've often talked about Penn's lack of motivation at times, and not necessarily working as hard in camp as he could. That doesn't seem to be a problem heading into this fight with MacDonald, and that's a very exciting prospect. MacDonald's going to be a very tough fight, but B.J. Penn is still B.J. Penn. He's looking in great shape, and ready to put on a fight, and that makes the anticipation even greater than it was before.
[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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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
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