Issue 106

October 2013

BJ Penn Former lightweight and welterweight champion on Anderson Silva and his possible return

Like everyone else, I’m so excited to see the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman at the end of the year. Everyone’s been asking me about Anderson and why he fought the way he did in the cage at UFC 162. I believe Anderson knew Weidman was a tough individual and felt that right away when he got taken down, so he started playing psychological mind games with him.

He makes his opponents feel as if they can’t hit him and if they do then they can’t hurt him, and then he’ll hit you. This time Anderson just ended up getting caught. Everyone keeps on asking why he was doing all that, but he was doing it because he can do all that stuff, that’s what makes Anderson Silva special.

Even though I believe Weidman won the first round, I think Anderson’s game plan was working. When Weidman got back to his corner he looked like he was psychologically lost. Maybe he was showboating too much for all of the fans out there, but I just feel as if he was trying to get into his rhythm and get into Weidman’s head. It had nothing to do with him disrespecting Chris Weidman, that’s just the way Anderson fights.

When Anderson was playing with him in the first and second round it was psychologically affecting Weidman – you could see that. Ray Longo must’ve told him to not believe he’s out of Anderson’s league and all he had to do was hit him. We could talk about what happened at UFC 162 forever, but that doesn’t change the fact it’s going to take a long time for anyone to beat Anderson’s 17-fight win streak in the devastating fashion he did. It wasn’t all decisions, the majority of the time the guy was out cold on the ground.

I really can’t wait to see Anderson and Weidman fight again at UFC 168 and I’m delighted Anderson came around to having the rematch. I know I defended the title a couple of times, but I don’t even care about belts anymore. Anderson has done it 10 times and moved up and fought at 205lb too so I just hope the rematch is because he wants it and not because the UFC demand it. 

It’s true when people tell us we’ve got nothing to prove, but every fighter’s brain also has an ‘I’ve got something to prove’ button. Eventually, one day, that button doesn’t turn on any more and you have to move on to your next thing. Only December’s rematch will tell us if Anderson’s button is still working or not.

THE RETURN OF BJ PENN

If I ever did come back again I would come back at lightweight, just because I don’t want my family to see me take a beating or get hit by a 15lb punch. When I came back for the UFC Fan Expo and the UFC 162 card, I hadn’t been to a UFC event for a while. As soon as I got there I was excited and I started to believe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to fight again. Then I go and watch Anderson get hurt and I have to ask myself if the same thing is going to happen to me.

As of now I’m still the only one with the record of never being knocked down. It’s pure luck. I do want that record to stay, but there’s no sense in putting it in danger if I’m just leaning on the fence. What’s the point in my family, my fans and even my opponent’s fans having to go through that. They don’t want to see their fighter fight that BJ Penn, they want to see their boy fight the best one. 

For me to feel ready to fight again I need to feel the desire to do it, or a great opportunity needs to arise which turns on my need to fight. ‘Now I feel it, now is the time and my opportunity. Let’s go do this.’ If I came back at lightweight I’d love to be the lightweight world champion, so if there was anybody I was looking at it would probably be the top three guys circulating around the belt.