In a new interview with Sherdog.com’s Greg Savage, UFC star BJ Penn reflects on his career and offers up some interesting insights.
You can watch the full video below, but here’s some keynotes:
– He never intended to fight in the UFC for this long. He planned to have just a handful of fights and then make a living running a gym and doing seminars. However a desire to avenge a loss to Jens Pulver kept him around for way longer than he ever expected.
– He says that loss to Pulver was the hardest to take. On the other hand his first fight against Matt Hughes was the one he was most determined that he was going to win as it was going to be a defining moment in his career.
– Penn says he wants to get his title back. He says he never cared about the belt when he had it, but jokes that now it’s gone it’s “my precious” and he has to have it back.
– BJ says that having his brothers who are all black belts around him gives him an advantage when it comes to training.
Assessing his brothers he says JD Penn is the strongest, Reagan “flows good” and is very flexible. However, he makes sure to point out that he can beat them both!
– He credits his father as being a big driving force in his career and the MMA scene in the islands of Hawaii as well.
_ The former champ admits a big motivation behind his decision to return to fighting as that he doesn’t feel he’s lived up to people’s expectations of him despite winning titles in two different weight classes in the UFC.
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