BJ Penn Has All the Tools to Beat Rory MacDonald; Motivation Is the X-Factor

BJ Penn retired after his draw with Jon Fitch at UFC 127. He then retired again after his loss to Nick Diaz at UFC 137.

That brings us to his next bout out of "retirement" that he has this weekend at UFC on Fox 5 against Rory MacDonald.

If this were to follow the pattern of Penn's recent work, we would see a somewhat out of shape Penn come in and scrap, gas out, lose a decision and announce yet another retirement from the sport.

For some reason, I don't think we will see that BJ Penn this weekend.

Rory MacDonald's acid tongue in the media has just emerged, but it has done enough to get the attention of Penn. Calling Penn old and fat has ignited a flame that has got Penn is a mindset we haven't seen since his prime.

Don't get me wrong, MacDonald is an extremely talented kid that has future champion written all over him. He has a similar style to that of Georges St-Pierre, a man who has defeated Penn twice.

However, MacDonald is still not on GSP's level, nor does he have the experience that the undisputed welterweight champion possesses.

Could MacDonald's trash talk have awoken a sleeping beast?

If you've ever heard the phrase, "Don't poke the sleeping bear," you tend to leave things that can cause harm alone. MacDonald not only called out Penn to take this fight; he hurled some insults at the former two-division champion.

All Penn needs is some motivation to get him in tip-top shape, a training camp and his legendary chin/jiu-jitsu game, and you have yourself the dangerous Penn of not long ago.

Penn is not an easy man to finish. If you let him stay around the whole fight, he will be equally dangerous.

I am sure a majority of the world expects MacDonald to win this fight, take another step up and for Penn to fade to obscurity. 

Be careful with that mindset because Penn could spoil those plans.