
Ever since his unanimous decision loss to Nick Diaz at UFC 137, B.J. Penn has remained firm in his decision to become a retired fighter. Although he has continually stuck behind his retirement, the UFC and UFC President Dana White have been under the impression that ‘The Prodigy” would return to the octagon at some point in time.
Apparently the UFC feels that Penn’s return is in the near future as he has apparently been offered a fight against perennial welterweight contender Josh Koscheck. Koscheck announced that he had been offered the fight on his twitter earlier this morning.
While Koscheck appears excited for a potential fight with the UFC legend, the same might not be said of Penn. Koscheck does say that he is waiting for Penn is accept the fight and as of now, Penn has still yet to officially accept the bout. Guerilla journalist Front Row Brian added some fuel to this story on his twitter page this morning as well.
In my mind, this fight makes perfect sense and shows yet again why Joe Silva is the best matchmaker in the business. For Koscheck, he is in an interesting position with the promotion. After his loss to Johny Hendricks earlier this month, Koscheck’s chances of fighting for the welterweight title again are slim. At this point in his career, Koscheck will probably be there for big money fights. The only big money fights I see for Koscheck at 170 are with Penn and Nick Diaz.
Penn is in the same boat as Koscheck. He has said that he has no interest in returning to lightweight and being 1-4-1 in his past six fights at 170, there will be no title talk for Penn. A fight with Koscheck or a rematch with Jon Fitch are the only welterweight fights I see as plausible for Penn.
There may be one situation that would entice Penn to accept this fight. It is no secret that the UFC has wanted to hold an event in Hawaii for some time now. It was just this past February that UFC President Dana White said that he would like to do a show at the Aloha Bowl and would want Penn to headline. I can’t think of any better way for Penn to actually retire for good then to go out in front of his hometown fans.
We will just have to wait to see whether Penn is ready for another fight in the near future.