BJ Penn Serious About His UFC Comeback with Stacked Team of Training Partners

No one has ever questioned that B.J. Penn wants to go down in the annals of UFC history as one of the best fighters of all time, but there have been moments when his motivation to train and prepare have come into doubt.

Returning from a short-lived retirement to face Rory MacDonald at UFC on Fox 5 on Dec. 8 in Seattle, however, Penn appears to be at the top of his game, even in the training room.

At least, if the training partners he’s hired for this fight are any indication, it appears that Penn couldn’t be any more serious about his Octagon comeback...

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I'm not really excited to see BJ back...against anyone really...

Can he be serious about returning to 155? In the last 6 years the only WW he beat was Hughes.

he is serious now, but if he loses, Rory greased, was taking PEDs or he wasn't really motivated as he took Rory lightly therefore this loss doesn't count

This is good for Rory's career.

That is the only person it is good for. BJ's going to get tossed around in there.

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Posted by tallica62

I'm not really excited to see BJ back...against anyone really...

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i am

Regardless of who BJ has brought in to train with Rory is still going to put him over his knee and spank him.

WAR RORY-MAC

It's funny, it seems like Bj and Leben are the only guys they have to tell us are training hard. I wouldn't be surprised if they were both chillin on a beach in Hawaii pounding gummy bears right now.

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Posted by Boo_Radley21

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Posted by tallica62

I'm not really excited to see BJ back...against anyone really...

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i am

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Me too! How can anyone not want to see BJ Penn fight? Thats just nonsense.

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Posted by airkerma

Can he be serious about returning to 155? In the last 6 years the only WW he beat was Hughes.

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This

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Posted by postman

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Posted by Boo_Radley21

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Posted by tallica62

I'm not really excited to see BJ back...against anyone really...

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i am

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Me too! How can anyone not want to see BJ Penn fight? Thats just nonsense.

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Did someone say nonsense

I'm with tallica on this one

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Posted by voodoo-jitsu

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Posted by postman

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Posted by Boo_Radley21

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Posted by tallica62

I'm not really excited to see BJ back...against anyone really...

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i am

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Me too! How can anyone not want to see BJ Penn fight? Thats just nonsense.

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Did someone say nonsense

I'm with tallica on this one

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Really Why? What would make you not want to see one of the best fighters to ever live fight? His fights are always good. I'm having a hard time understanding why you wouldn't want to see him fight?

I see this fight going like the First GSP fight, expect Rory-Mac isn't GSP.

I'm more and more considering to take BJ, but BJ has made me a fool in the past.

Too late for BJ. I think he's going to take a beating if he doesn't pull it out in the 1st round.

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Posted by frizzzlecake

I see this fight going like the First GSP fight, expect Rory-Mac isn't GSP.

I'm more and more considering to take BJ, but BJ has made me a fool in the past.

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This fight's gonna go like GSP vs BJ 2... i still laugh everytime I hear...

"This fights gonna go to the death Georges, to the death... i'm going to try and kill you, and i'm serious about that...." or whatever crazy shit he said....

We found out later that BJ defined death as somewhere after the 4th round on his stool...BJ's in deep, deep water here and I'm not sure he fully understands it... but one thing I've always said about Penn he's got a warriors heart, so maybe he does and just doesn't care.... but this is gonna get ugly.

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Posted by postman

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Posted by voodoo-jitsu

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Posted by postman

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Posted by Boo_Radley21

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Posted by tallica62

I'm not really excited to see BJ back...against anyone really...

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i am

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Me too! How can anyone not want to see BJ Penn fight? Thats just nonsense.

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Did someone say nonsense

I'm with tallica on this one

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Really Why? What would make you not want to see one of the best fighters to ever live fight? His fights are always good. I'm having a hard time understanding why you wouldn't want to see him fight?

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i just think that the window of success has closed on him. even in his prime he wasn't all that motivated, i doubt he's coming into his later fights very motivated either. the top guys are going to be too much for him. he's been around a long time, and i agree with you he was one of the best. if he stepped aside and stopped fighting it wouldn't hurt my feelings any. or it could be that i just never cared for him

I'm with postman. Bj fighting is a treat for us all. Worse case scenario is he loses but doesn't everyone already think that's going to happen? Like postman said his fights are never boring and he is dangerous basically everywhere the fight goes. Imo i wouldnt be surprised if he actually won the fight.

Anyone else from Canada want to chime in on how badly BJ is going to get whupped lol?

To me this will be a good indicator as to just how good Rory's wrestling really is. He's looked great outwrestling guys who couldn't wrestle a mop bucket out of a broom closet, but this will be a stern test.

I"d rather see BJ at 155, but he's not an easy fight for anyone in any division. Really psyched for this one, hopefully it's a good scrap.

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Posted by Wolfenstein

I"d rather see BJ at 155, but he's not an easy fight for anyone in any division. Really psyched for this one, hopefully it's a good scrap.

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Same here!! Hopefully the comeback is for this fight, then a move back down to 155.

Good for him.
And it should be a decent fight. I'll definitely watch. But I'll watch from the perspective of "can he do it?"

And if he wins then what? It'll take a lot more than a victory over Rory to convince me he's not at that Tito-Ortiz-a-year-ago stage of his career.

Fans are sooooo shallow. Hes a washed up bum despite going to a draw with at the time the 2nd ranked welterweight in the world Fitch. So by everyones logic Erick Silva should retire since Fitch clearly beat him. Get it together posters

ill take BJ to run through Rory its not even close Rory is in big big trouble

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Posted by quezocrema0032

Fans are sooooo shallow. Hes a washed up bum despite going to a draw with at the time the 2nd ranked welterweight in the world Fitch. So by everyones logic Erick Silva should retire since Fitch clearly beat him. Get it together posters

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By that argument alone, no, Penn shouldn't retire, but there's other factors and this is an invalid comparison. Silva's young, athletic, relatively injury free, and a physically big guy at WW. A loss to Fitch could motivate him to take his opponents' strengths into consideration, to intelligently gameplan and create opportunities instead of waiting for an opening.

On the other hand, BJ doesn't have anything else to prove. He's beaten some of the best, never been submitted or knocked out cold, and he's not getting any younger. He's also on the smaller side for WW, and while I think he could have some exciting fights at LW, I don't see his skillset as especially problematic for guys like Bendo and Maynard.

Like others I see this going like GSP - Penn 2. Rory's gonna get ahold of Penn and ragdoll him around, laying a beating on him that doesn't quite stop him but leaves no doubt who dominated.

Frankly, win or lose here, if BJ's still motivated to fight, I'd like to see him get to 155 and welcome Gil Melendez to the UFC. Easy to market, introduces the casual fans to one of the best by fighting one of the best of all time, and it helps determine Melendez's real chances in the UFC without giving him a title shot immediately.

I wanna see Bj fight badly, he is one of the only true fighters in the game and fights anyone. He has power which could get in the way of Rory's hype train. I noticed in a fight Rory seemed like he got rocked and he seemed like he was lucky to get the take-down, maybe in Che Mills fight. If BJ cracks him hard and he can't get the takedown, because Bj has some of the best TDD in history, than this could be a quick win for BJ. One thing I will never buy are the Training hard rumors and the afterfight excuses for Bj, it gets really old.

the BJ melendo fight sounds good, and I coined Melendo, im so good jk lol