Penn’s fast win shows heart’s still in the cage
Two uninspired losses to Frankie Edgar prompted considerable speculation about how much enthusiasm and desire BJ Penn still had for fighting.
It took him just 21 seconds to end much of that talk.
Penn, 31, looked rejuvenated Saturday in his quick destruction of Matt Hughes, an Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Famer, in UFC 123 outside Detroit.
“I was just in there to fight. I wanted him to hit me and I wanted to hit him. I was just in the mindset of ‘fight like a kid,’ ” Penn said at the postfight news conference. “A lot of people have been questioning if I’m motivated and if I want to do this. I really wanted to come in and show everybody my fighting spirit and what I’m all about.”
Penn made his return to the 170-pound welterweight class, in which he had won the UFC title by beating Hughes in 2004. Penn bounced around weight divisions early in his career, but settled mostly at lightweight (155) in the last three years.
UFC president Dana White liked the way Penn performed back at 170.
“It looked like he was ready to go,” White said. “He looked like the old BJ. He didn’t look like that at 155.”
With that, White decided Penn would remain at welterweight and fight top contender Jon Fitch in UFC 127 at Sydney, Australia. The bout should have instant title ramifications because Fitch has won five straight fights since unsuccessfully challenging Georges St. Pierre for the belt. Penn also had a crack at St. Pierre’s belt, but came up short.
■ NO REMATCH — White wasn’t as clear in setting the futures of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida, but was adamant when asked if there would be an immediate rematch of Saturday’s main event: “No.”
The query was sparked by the scene in the cage immediately after Jackson was announced as the winner by split decision.
As the final bell rang, Jackson raised Machida’s hand and then slouched against the cage. Jackson appeared stunned when his name was read as the victor and told announcer Joe Rogan he would grant Machida a rematch.
“I had just got done getting punched in the face. Don’t pay me no mind that soon after the fight,” Jackson said about 30 minutes later. “My trainers had told me I had won the fight. But when I’m in the fight I have a one-track mind of knocking him out, and when he came at me so much in the third round, I forgot what had happened in the first two rounds.
“It’s one of those things where at the time I thought I’d gotten my ass whupped because I was just getting up off the ground.”
White, who said he was upset at Jackson’s concession in the cage, believed the decision was correct and conclusive and therefore no rematch is warranted.
■ MORE 123 AFTERMATH — In addition to the Penn-Fitch matchup, White announced that George Sotiropoulos of Australia would fight Dennis Siver on the Sydney card.
The 33-year-old Sotiropoulos, who won his third fight of the year Saturday by submitting Joe Lauzon with a kimura in the second round, also fought on the UFC’s first card in Sydney in February.
Also, Karo Parisyan’s return to the organization will be short-lived. After battling injuries and personal problems, Parisyan appeared on a UFC card for the first time since January 2009 and was knocked out by Dennis Hallman in 1:47.
White confirmed via text message that Parisyan would be released but said the job of Las Vegan Tyson Griffin is safe.
Griffin had won six of seven fights and was on the verge of a title shot a year ago, but he dropped his third consecutive fight in a controversial split decision to Nik Lentz on Saturday.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.
