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BJ Penn comments on his sore shoulder and whether he needs surgery

By Zach Arnold | May 22, 2011

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This is a really good interview. Before the part I transcribed, he and Ron Kruck talk about the legacy of Randy Couture and BJ argues that Randy is the best fighter ever in the history of the UFC. Towards the end of the interview, he talks about the new UFC gym opening up in Waikiki soon and how much input he had in terms of designing the gym.

RON KRUCK: “When you look at Randy Couture, BJ… do you, is that something that, when you finally decide to hang it up, that you would like to go out the way that he did? Because a lot of times, in any sport, athletes really don’t get to pick, OK, I’m ready to go out and go out on their own terms. Do you think he retired the right way and in a way that you would like to finally retire one day?”

BJ PENN: “You know what? A lot of other fighters out there, they probably would have went and picked a fight that they would have known that they would have won and leave on a high note. But, that’s Randy, that’s the only way he would have gone out, like that and I probably would kind of think for myself the same. If Randy would have won, he would be fighting for the title. He wouldn’t have left, you know… We lost so many times over the years, you know, we all know that’s not the first time Randy got knocked but that’s probably what it’s going to, probably going to take a knockout or a bad beating to make someone like Randy or someone like me or a couple other fighters that I know in the UFC say, OK, you know, I can take it, I’ll walk away now.’

RON KRUCK: “Personally, how long would you like to keep fighting?”

BJ PENN: “You know when I was in my 20s I said I’ll fight until 40 and this and that… and I don’t know, everything’s just a blessing now. As long as I keep winning fighting and fans want to see me fight (and) I’m not hurt, I’ll fight as long as I can. I’d love to fight until 40, I don’t know if it’s a reality but I’d love to.”

RON KRUCK: “Your last fight, a draw with Jon Fitch. You know, I never have entered and competed in the Octagon but I played team sports all my life and I don’t think anything was worse than a tie. Is that the same way in MMA with a draw?”

BJ PENN: “I mean, yes, it really is. The first time I got a draw is with (Kaoru) Uno and I didn’t get to collect that belt and, it is, it’s just like it leaves you, what now? It leaves you in a limbo type situation and, you know, then he got hurt, he hurt his shoulder and my shoulder is bothering me, too. It’s turned into an ugly situation. My shoulder was bothering me before Fitch pulled out and, you know, I just was kind of going to go through with it because the whole thing with the draw and everything and I figured Fitch had some injuries, too, you know coming off, we fought off right there and we’re going to go straight into this. And Fitch ended up pulling out and getting hurt. The whole time when I was getting ready to get close to the Fitch fight I was like, how am I going to feel three months out? How am I going to feel three months out? Fitch pulls out, so a week or two week later, three months around comes out and my shoulder’s still sore, you know, and I’m like… you know what, (get) 100% already, let’s do it.”

RON KRUCK: “You don’t need any surgery or anything like that?”

BJ PENN: “You know, I got to take another MRI with the contrast and everything but every time it starts feeling better then I don’t want to take that thing because I don’t want to have surgery, you know, but I better go out and I got to just, for my own peace of mind, I gotta go do that MRI contrast, I’ve been putting it off too long and the only reason why I’m putting it off is because I want to fight, I don’t want to have surgery. I just want to wake up one day and be like, oh, that thing’s great, right on, Dana, let’s go. You know?”

RON KRUCK: “You’ve been in the Octagon with the sport’s best, the top of the top. You don’t have to call any one out or anything like that, but is there a fight that interests you before you retire? Maybe, you know, a rematch with someone or somebody new, maybe an up-and-comer?”

BJ PENN: “You know what? People might think it’s a long shot from this point out, but I really would like to be the world champ again at 170 pounds, you know, and I try to hold out as long as I can and when I get knocked off, because everyone’s going to get knocked off, I’d love to go back to 155 and win one more time. If I could do that, I can go to sleep at night. It would be much easier, you know, I don’t know any specific names or whoever the champion is at that time, you know. … I really want to be world champ again. You know, I was watching Soul Surfer movie the other day, the girl (Bethany Hamilton) who lost her arm… and if she can go out and keep surfing professionally, I can go get another world title.”

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |

One Response to “BJ Penn comments on his sore shoulder and whether he needs surgery”

  1. mr. roadblock says:

    He needs to fight Nick Diaz before he retires.

    UFC missed out on Chuck/Forrest and Randy/Rampage. They need to give me BJ vs Nick Diaz.

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