Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
By ANDRE JOHNSON
Bleacher Report Contributor
The bad news for B. J. Penn is that this year did not start off the way he would have liked. The good news, however, is that he has what is seemingly selective amnesia.
“It was this year?” Penn, in a recent telephone conversation from California, said of his first of three fights this year. “I thought it was a while back. I figured we weren’t still in the same year. I went in that fight and got my butt kicked.”
One of the world’s renowned mixed martial arts fighters and a fixture on the Ultimate Fighting Championship circuit who will defend his lightweight title in Memphis December 12 against Diego Sanchez at FedExForum’s UFC 107, Penn (14-5-1) entered his much-anticipated rematch against French Canadian George St-Pierre in January in Las Vegas, where he was beaten senseless before a corner stoppage that was ruled a technical knockout sent him to his first defeat in nearly three years.
It was a setback, in fact, that resulted in Penn, 30, experiencing weeks of depression and soul-searching. It was a brutal, lopsided whipping that left the native of Kailua, Hawaii bloody, banged up and bruised over almost his entire 5-foot-9, 155-pound frame. It was a devastating shellacking, one that prompted Penn to board the first plane out of Vegas and head west, back to the soothing, relaxing islands of Hawaii.
“I was kind of depressed,” Penn said of the loss to St-Pierre for the UFC welterweight championship bout known St-Pierre vs. Penn 2: Declaration. “But it was one of those things where I knew I had to get up and defend the (light heavyweight) title. Regardless of the profession, there are a lot of ups and downs. And a successful person has to keep climbing and standing up on their feet.”
Penn, of course, insists he never contemplated calling it a career after what he described as the most disappointing setback of his nine-year UFC career Super Bowl weekend. Instead, he returned to San Diego, his training site, and began conditioning for his clash against fellow American Kenny Florian. The fight, which took place August 9 in Philadelphia, ended in the fourth round when a rather frustrated and livid Penn emerged victorious by submission for his fourteenth win, thanks to an emphatic rear naked choke.
It was, at least according those affiliated with the Penn camp, a confidence-building, grudge victory for the world’s No. 1 lightweight fighter, given the situation that surrounded his bout against Florian.
Weeks prior to his rematch against St-Pierre, Penn was tipped off by Florian, who sent him multiple emails and text messages, saying that St-Pierre had been using Vaseline in numerous parts of his body as an advantage, of sorts, against his opponents. However, after the Penn-Florian fight was announced, Florian was seen working out with St-Pierre and later denied telling Penn such news. Penn, as result, felt betrayed by Florian, calling him a liar, cheater, and two-faced, among other things. Penn, much to his delight, eventually took his frustrations out on Florian when the two collided in Philadelphia’s UFC 101: Declaration.
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