Source: MMA Fighting
Story:
It seems the newest trend if you are a welterweight is to call out BJ Penn for a fight in the hopes of building your resume. Count young Canadian phenom Rory MacDonald among those wanting to welcome BJ Penn back into the octagon for one more fight. We recently heard about how Josh Koscheck took to twitter to try and lure BJ back into action. Koscheck later admitted that the UFC asked him to goad Penn into returning for a come back fight. MacDonald didn’t want to call out the MMA legend and instead chose to respectfully ask for a fight with Penn if Penn was interested. MacDonald is currently riding a 3 fight win streak and most recently defeated Che Mills back in April. MacDonald is hoping for a fight with one of his idols in BJ Penn this September in Toronto, Canada. The date would give BJ a little over three months to prepare for a bout with MacDonald. MacDonald knows he is young so a fight with the top 10 of the welterweight division isn’t going anywhere but BJ will only be around for so long. And a win over him would instantly give the young Canadian some credibility moving forward.
Blogger Opinion:
I like MacDonald and believe he is the future of the welterweight division. But a fight with Penn does not make sense for Penn since it would be a lose-lose situation for him. If Penn returns and beats MacDonald, he is beating an inexperienced kid with no name; if he loses, then he just lost to a kid with no name which makes him look washed up. This is crazy but I think Penn would take the fight. Penn would love nothing more than to wipe the deck with GSP’s protege to send a message. I hope BJ doesn’t take the fight though. It would definitely be a good fight but I think MacDonald will just do what GSP did, wear BJ out with his wrestling, and then go for the win. Everyone knows the formula for beating Penn but it doesn’t prove much if Penn is giving up so much size. Penn belongs in the lightweight division and I think that is where he should end his career. BJ should be chasing a title at lightweight whether he ever wins the lightweight title again or not. Although BJ likes to bang with the bigger welterweights, he will eventually succumb to their size and power. Lightweight is the only place that BJ belongs at this point. For MacDonald, a fight with Thiago Alves, Josh Koscheck, or even Jake Ellenberger makes more sense if he wants to break into the top 5 of the welterweight division. Picking on a retired legend just doesn’t pan out for all parties involved.
Update 6/5/2012: Bitter sweet news as multiple outlets have confirmed that BJ Penn is back! The only issue, he has accepted the Rory MacDonald fight as I had feared. I don’t think this fight makes sense for him on so many levels but maybe he will take this fight seriously and train harder than he has ever trained to give MacDonald a good fight. Otherwise, its going to be much of the same as Penn/ GSP 1 and 2. Overall, glad to hear BJ is back!
Update 6/11/2012: Rory MacDonald revealed that he was told by UFC officials to call out BJ Penn to lure him out of retirement. MacDonald originally wanted a rematch with interim champ Carlos Condit but since Condit was already penciled in for a fight with fellow teammate GSP, MacDonald agreed to take the Penn fight.
