UFC fans got wind of a possible welterweight war in the making on Wednesday night, when former No. 1 contender Josh Koscheck announced via Twitter that the UFC had offered him a fight with former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight Champion BJ Penn, but "The Prodigy" is putting the excitement to rest.
Wednesday night, Koscheck tweeted, "UFC just offered me to fight BJ Penn...I said YES! Just waiting on him! Let's scrap bra?" On Thursday, Penn responded from his own Twitter account (@bjpenndotcom), writing, "I know it costs a lot of money to live that lavish lifestyle, big house, fast cars & you need big fights but sorry I'm not coming back anytime soon!"
Penn last fought in October at UFC 137 against Nate Diaz, losing a unanimous decision in a fight that became the main event when UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre was sidelined by a knee injury and left unable to defend his title against Carlos Condit. The loss dropped him to 1-3-1 in his last five fights, and 1-1-1 since his return to welterweight at UFC 123 in November 2010.
Since losing to Diaz, Penn is known to have turned down to fights. He was offered a fight with Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez, but with Strikeforce having lost most of its luster as a top promotion since being acquired by the UFC last year, Penn described a move to Strikeforce as "downgrading," and declined the matchup. Melendez will defend his title against Josh Thomson this weekend as part of the Strikeforce card that features Josh Barnett doing battle against Daniel Cormier in the finals of the Heavyweight Grand Prix.
The Melendez offer, apparently, was followed by the offer of a fight with Koscheck in the UFC, but Penn apparently isn't interested in that matchup, either, or any other fight that takes place "anytime soon."
So, what does this mean for Penn?
To put matters in perspective, Penn won his first UFC title in 2004, when he beat Matt Hughes for the UFC Welterweight Championship. That same night, Vitor Belfort defeated Randy Couture to win the UFC Light Heavyweight Title. The UFC Middleweight and Heavyweight titles were vacant because of Tim Sylvia's steroid suspension and Murilo Bustamante's departure for PRIDE, and the lightweight title was in limbo because of Penn's draw against Caol Uno in the finals of a four-man tournament that was to determine a champion.
Where are they all now? Sylvia is in the midst of a desperate and embarrassing campaign to get back in the UFC. Bustamante last fought in a small promotion in Brazil and hasn't competed in the U.S. since 2002. Uno is in Japan and has won just once in the last four years. Couture is retired, and Hughes is all but. Belfort, who was 27 at the time, is back in the UFC, enjoying a career renaissance at middleweight, but he's something of an exception that proves the rule. It could well be that Penn is on the verge of retirement, and just can't bring himself to say it.
But we probably won't know for sure "anytime soon."
