Penn first offered Florian, pondered retirement before UFC 123 booking with Hughes

[source]

ROSEMEAD, Calif. – After falling short in an attempt to reclaim his lightweight title this past month at UFC 118, B.J. Penn spent his time on the flight home from Boston pondering his career.
Did he really want to continue fighting? Could he stomach another heart-breaking loss?

But by the time he landed in Hawaii and boarded a puddle-jumper to get to his home island, he had convinced himself to continue. And though he now meets welterweight Matt Hughes at UFC 123, Penn told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) he initially was targeted for a rematch with lightweight Kenny Florian.

Due to Edgar's effective stick-and-move game plan and well-timed takedowns, Penn lost his belt at UFC 112. And though he entered the rematch a nearly 2-to-1 favorite, Penn fell victim to a similar strategy the second time around.

During Saturday's UFC Gym opening in Rosemead, Calif., Penn talked to MMAjunkie.com about the long flight home.

"I was flying home, (and) I was kind of like, 'Maybe I don't want to do this anymore; I don't know what's wrong. If I'm going to go out there and perform like that, maybe this isn't something worth doing,'" he said. "But when I got to Hawaii and jumped on a little island-hopper to go to my island, something told me, 'B.J., stick to your game plan.' So I'm sticking to it."

So, wanting to get back into the cage and sticking to his earlier plan of fighting as often as possible, Penn (15-7-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC) talked to UFC president Dana White about his options. That ultimately led to a booking at November's UFC 123 event in suburban Detroit, where he'll meet Hughes (45-7 MMA, 18-5 UFC) in a rubber match. But another potential opponent's name first came up.

"I talked to Dana, and they tried to put me in the ring with Florian, (and) Dana said Florian was hurt," said Penn, who submitted Florian in 2009 to defend the belt. "[Dana] said, 'What do you think about Hughes?' I said, 'Matt Hughes?' I got chicken skin all over my body. I said, 'Tell him I'm coming. Tell him, let's go.'"

After suffering back-to-back defeats, Penn said he had more sense than to request a fight with a UFC Hall of Famer who fights at a heavier weight class – especially one who's climbed back into title contention with a string of wins over Matt Serra, Renzo Gracie and Ricardo Almeida. But with the opportunity to fight again quickly, and with Hughes on board, he simply couldn't pass it up.

"I'm more respectful than that to lose two fights in a row and say, 'OK, give me Matt Hughes,'" Penn said. "They offered me that fight. Matt was really excited about the fight. Dana called me and said, 'We offered Matt the fight. He's going to put everything on hold to take the fight if you want it.' And I said, 'I've got nothing else better to do. Let's do this.'

"I wanted to train and fight year-round, and my last fight didn't go the way I wanted it to go. But something told me (to take it)."

Penn and Hughes, of course, have met twice before. Penn won the first meeting via submission at UFC 46, but Hughes got his revenge at UFC 63 and scored a third-round TKO. Hughes lost his long-held welterweight belt for the first time with the UFC 46 loss. Prior to UFC 63, he reclaimed the title with a win over Georges St-Pierre and successfully defended it with the Penn victory.

Given their history and the opportunity to co-headline another event, Penn quickly was intrigued by the bout.

"I think fighters get excited for big fights, which is just why I was so excited," he said. "I know everybody's going to be interested to see what happens – people from both ends. Some people say, 'Matt Hughes is kind of coming up, and maybe B.J.'s going down a little. But we still know that if B.J. comes in good, he could really pull this off.' Matt's always good, so I think it's a good fight."

And though the two fighters often have clashed in the past, Penn says he's grown to appreciate his counterpart as they've both obtained veteran-fighter status.

"Over the years, maybe I didn't like Matt Hughes at certain times, but I love that guy," Penn said. "He's alright. He's still here. He's an idol for all of us to sit here and watch."

So why the change of heart?

"I don't know," he said. "As you get older, you just start to let things go, I guess. I look at Matt no different than any of us. We're all just trying to make it and do our best."

For additional coverage of UFC 123, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.