BJ Penn Thought About Retiring After UFC Fight Night 103 Loss

In an interview with MMA Junkie, BJ Penn (16-11-2 MMA, 12-10-2 UFC) said he almost retired after his UFC Fight Night 103 loss to Yair Rodriguez. He didn’t and will compete again at UFC Fight Night 112 against Dennis Siver (22-11 MMA, 11-8 UFC). The event happens tomorrow at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. Here are highlights:

On considering retirement: “Right after the fight I was kind of like, “Uh, maybe this is the end.’ I’m talking 5 minutes, 10 minutes after the fight. But actually one of my buddies walked up to me, Leroy Padilla, and he said, ‘B.J., you’ve got to fight again.’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about, man?’ From that moment, over time, one or two days, I was like, ‘Let’s do it again.’

On his fight with Siver: “We’re going to take this as far as we can go. We’re going to do good on Sunday. From there, call (UFC matchmaker) Sean (Shelby) and see what’s going on. … Same thing as last time. I’m doing it because I love it.”