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After the beat down Penn received from current welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94, fans questions whether Penn would return to full strength or fade into obscurity and retire as lightweight champion.
At a "Welcome Home BJ Penn" rally yesterday in the champion's native homeland, Penn address these concerns and more.
"Of course, I was sad after that loss and a lot of things were going through my head," he said. "But I woke up one day and said, 'You know what? I'm still the lightweight champ. Let's keep fighting.' "
The talk circulating around UFC circles these days is that Penn will finally defend his lightweight title against No. 1 contender Kenny Florian of Boston. Penn did not defend title against St. Pierre.
"That will probably be this summer, so that's my focus now," Penn said.
Penn went on to comment about Greasegate,
"The most important thing is that we told the commission to watch out for that before the fight, and then they caught him doing it and they didn't tell us until after the fight," Penn said. "I just wish they would have told us when it happened. It's all hindsight now, but maybe they could have taken him to the back and cleaned him off or something."
Because of the controversy, Penn said he'd like to get another shot at St-Pierre's welterweight belt. St-Pierre is scheduled to face Brazilian Thiago Alves this summer.
"After I defend my belt and he defends his belt, I'd love to do it again," Penn said. "Mostly because of the controversy. I just want it to be clean — no questions, no controversy."
At a "Welcome Home BJ Penn" rally yesterday in the champion's native homeland, Penn address these concerns and more.
"Of course, I was sad after that loss and a lot of things were going through my head," he said. "But I woke up one day and said, 'You know what? I'm still the lightweight champ. Let's keep fighting.' "
The talk circulating around UFC circles these days is that Penn will finally defend his lightweight title against No. 1 contender Kenny Florian of Boston. Penn did not defend title against St. Pierre.
"That will probably be this summer, so that's my focus now," Penn said.
Penn went on to comment about Greasegate,
"The most important thing is that we told the commission to watch out for that before the fight, and then they caught him doing it and they didn't tell us until after the fight," Penn said. "I just wish they would have told us when it happened. It's all hindsight now, but maybe they could have taken him to the back and cleaned him off or something."
Because of the controversy, Penn said he'd like to get another shot at St-Pierre's welterweight belt. St-Pierre is scheduled to face Brazilian Thiago Alves this summer.
"After I defend my belt and he defends his belt, I'd love to do it again," Penn said. "Mostly because of the controversy. I just want it to be clean — no questions, no controversy."
