Today on the UFC’s website is a lengthy article about BJ Penn. The Prodigy was apparently in a joking mood and even suggested headlines for the article. I guess he’s staying loose for UFC 80 when he will battle Joe Stevenson (January 19th) for the vacant UFC lightweight title belt.

Some snippets:

“I’m training a lot harder,” admits Penn, who hasn’t always been known for his Spartan work ethic. “Back in the day I used to pride myself on how little I could do and get away with it; now I try to pride myself on how much I do. I try to work real hard, train as much as I can, eat healthy food, and I want to see how far I can take it.

”For most fighters, a realization like this comes after a series of crippling setbacks or when reaching a milestone age like 30 or 35 and realizing that what you’ve been doing for years just isn’t working. Penn though, is more popular than ever after his stint as a coach on season five of The Ultimate Fighter and a dominant win over Jens Pulver in the show’s season finale. As for his previous two losses, he dropped a close nod to interim welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre and then lost to Matt Hughes in the third round after dominating the first two rounds and then breaking his rib – not exactly a call for panic, but for Penn when he turned 28 in December of 2006, he decided that just being among the best in the world wasn’t enough.

“I guess the wakeup call was December 13, 2006, when I turned 28,” said Penn, 29. “I said ‘what am I doing, why am I messing around? This is the biggest sport in the world, it’s gonna overtake everything, I’m at the forefront. Why am I playing games?’”

Penn then discusses how he saw the move from flabby 170 to 155 as a chance to make things right after starting to struggle at 170.

Last week we showed you a BJ Penn video interview from Karyn Bryant in which the former champion vaguely spoke about his future, saying he had no plans to fight but refusing to say the word “retire.” However, according to UFC president Dana White, Penn told him that same week in Stockholm that he would in fact fight again.

“I heard some sh_t that he said he was going to retire and all this stuff,” White said. “[BJ] was like, ‘Nah, I’m going to fight again,’” MMA Fighting reports.

So there you have it. Despite saying that he was “done,” after losing to Nick Diaz last October, BJ will scrap again, according to his boss. I suppose we all figured as much, considering how much Penn loves fighting and how much money he makes doing it.

But the question is, who would BJ fight? Penn has only won one bout in his last five, albeit all against very top competition. At lightweight, the 33 year-old has seemed to have lost a bit of of quickness and reaction time — which is death in the lighter weight classes, and specifically for astalking counter-puncher like Penn. At welterweight, Penn is forced to pack on 15 pounds of unnecessary bulk, which has always been unfair but his crazy talent still allowed him to be successful there.

(Video courtesy YouTube/tjc231/UFC.com)

If you were to ask a room full of MMA fans and reporters if they think that BJ Penn’s best days as a fighter are behind him, many, if not most would say they were, but as The Prodigy told Joe Rogan on the most recent episode of UFC Ultimate Insider, he doesn’t feel that he has reached his full potential and he that with the right training and mindset he will one day be one of the best fighters in the sport.

When asked by Rogan if he would change anything he did during his career, Penn said that he would do it all over again without doing anything differently as he has learned from everything he has done.

"I wouldn’t do anything different. I woulda did it just like that. I wish I could look back and say, ‘I wish how I was gonna train right now for the Matt Hughes fight I trained like this when I was 20 years old,’ but it wouldn’t have worked then," BJ explains. "It wouldn’t have worked that way. You gotta find what works for you. That’s what I believe. I believe once I do [find what works best for me] I’ll be able to hit that peak. We’re just getting started."

Find more videos like this on BJPENN.COM

BJ Penn‘s post-UFC 118 layoff won’t be a long one. After getting the business end of a five-round shutout at the hands of Frankie Edgar, Penn expects to return to the Octagon "in November sometime," against an opponent he’s not ready to name yet. But you can tell he’s excited about the matchup by the way his chair-rocking gradually increases in speed.

"November" could mean UFC 122: Belfort vs. Okami (11/13; Oberhausen, Germany) or UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida (11/20; Auburn Hills, Michigan), both of which lack strong co-main events at this point. We’re still holding out hope that Penn gets his rematch with Takanori Gomi, even though Clay Guida’s recent tweets seem to hint at a Guida vs. Gomi meeting. In the words of BJ, we’ll "keep you guys posted…it’s gonna be good…nah."

Find more videos like this on BJPENN.COM
(Sorry, BJ, I couldn’t hear you over Dana’s shirt. Props to CageWriter for the tip.)

As first revealed on BJPenn.com, the UFC lightweight champ will return to action on December 12th at UFC 107 in Memphis. Strangely, the name "Diego Sanchez" wasn’t mentioned in the 40-second video update, though Sherdog reports that Sanchez has at least been offered the fight. UFC 107 is also slated to feature the TUF 10 coaches’ battle between Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans, and will also reportedly feature Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo, and Thiago Alves vs. Paulo Thiago. (I wonder if they can get Paulo Alves to referee that fight?)

But wait a minute, weren’t Penn and Sanchez supposed to headline a third UFC card in November, possibly on a network? "Wait and see boys…if I can pull this off," Dana said at a press conference before UFC 102. Well, maybe he didn’t pull it off. Or maybe the unspecified network in question, like HBO in the past, wanted more control over production than White was willing to give up. At any rate, November 7th is currently looking like an open date on the calendar. You hear that, Strikeforce? November 7th. You think you can get your shit together by then?

(Props: Cage Writer. Skip to the 2:15 mark to find out why BJPenn.com is killing MMAWeekly.com when it comes to breaking BJ Penn-related news.)

The highlight of today’s UFC 101 conference call, aside from a joke question about whether B.J. Penn has ever done gay porn, was Penn’s tirade against the MMA media, particularly MMA Weekly.  He said he was unhappy about how he was portrayed following the Georges St. Pierre fight, blaming MMA Weekly specifically for, at least in his mind, making his appeal to the Nevada State Athletic Commission seem extremely whiny rather than just annoyingly whiny.  What’s worse, Penn added, he did a lot to help the Ryan Bennett Memorial Fund after the death of the MMA Weekly founder, and this should apparently guarantee positive coverage from them years later.

(Props: YouTube.com/chaplinshouse)

The brilliant video-remixer/voice-mimic responsible for the Tito Ortiz music video in the #1 spot of today’s Worst Commentary Moments list dropped us a line this afternoon to let us know that his latest work has just been posted to YouTube. (Good lookin’ out, Chaplin!) "The Douchebag" makes fun of everything that BJ Penn can possibly be made fun of for, including (but not limited to) his lazy training habits, his mother fighting his legal battles for him, his failed appeal to The Rock for a movie role, and how his former jiu-jitsu teacher hates him now. Plus, we learn that when BJ’s voice is slowed down, he sounds basically retarded. (Coincidentally, Jeff Goldblum suffers from the same condition.) Chaplin also has a couple of non-MMA-related videos that you also need to check out. If you can make it through this voice-dubbed scene from last season’s Celebrity Apprentice without pissing yourself laughing…well, good for you. Must be nice having dry pants.

(Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas.)

BJ Penn, now 0-2 against Georges St. Pierre, has accepted the UFC welterweight champ’s semi-sarcastic offer to fight for a third time this summer. (GSP: "This time we’ll wear a rash guard. I guarantee you the result will be the same or worse for him.") Here’s what Penn posted on his blog last night:

This video of BJ Penn’s experience at UFC 87 (courtesy of BJPenn.com, via Yahoo!) confirms a few things that I’ve long suspected: 1) BJ Penn has more fun than I do, 2) Jesse Ventura (seen sitting stone-faced next to Penn at one point) does not, and 3) everyone in the world — including “Rampage” Jackson — thinks they do a good Hulk Hogan impression, but most of them are wrong.

Where things really start to get interesting here is when Penn enters the Octagon to confront Georges St. Pierre about their superfight. You can hear Dana White asking Penn to let GSP “have his moment here real quick,” and you can also hear the boos from the crowd when Penn steps up to the mic. No matter, Nick Swardson thinks he’s the best fighter in the world, and that’s enough for me.

Below, check out BJ hitting the town with Bruce Buffer, who declares Jon Fitch to be “a tough son of a bitch.” You gotta love the Buff.

Find more videos like this on BJPENN.COM

(After a long, hard day in the courtroom, a wide-mouthed Mickey’s really takes the edge off.)

As if being the undisputed ruler of the UFC’s lightweight division wasn’t enough, BJ Penn can now add another title to his impressive resume: Beer poster-boy. According to a new press release:

Two greatly respected Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) powers are combining forces to bring added excitement to the popular sport. The partnership between BJ “The Prodigy” Penn – his league’s current lightweight title holder – and Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor promises action inside and outside the octagon.

“BJ Penn is a favorite among MMA fans, and Mickey’s is BJ’s beer of choice, so a partnership makes a lot of sense for both of us,” said Patrick Minogue, Mickey’s marketing manager. “From the website to packaging to personal appearances, we plan to bring this alliance to life and give Mickey’s drinkers more access to this top MMA fighter.”

Wait a minute — Mickey’s is a “greatly respected MMA power”? Mickey’s is BJ Penn’s beer of choice? Mickey’s is anybody’s beer of choice? Please, guys, one bombshell at a time.

Penn’s new sponsorship deal follows Tito Ortiz, who inked a deal with Mickey’s last month. At the time it seemed like a perfect fit, as Mickey’s had just been bounced out of the Octagon in favor of Bud Light, and Tito looked to be heading for the exits as well. Now that the Prodigy is taking their money, it appears that Mickey’s replacement by a more prominent brand doesn’t mean that they’ve been banned by the UFC altogether. Could other beers follow the fighter sponsorship model in the future? It would be great to see Marcus Davis proudly representing Guinness, Heath Herring named PBR’s official Drunk Texan Brawler, and Georges St. Pierre pretending to drink from unopened cans of Molson, Xenergy-style.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/AudreAuditore)

If you’ve seen the latest TV spot for the soon-to-be-released Assassin’s Creed: Revelations game, you may have done a double take when you saw a character that looked an awful lot like BJ Penn.

Don’t worry, you aren’t going nuts. Penn appeared in the commercial sandwiched between Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose and the game’s protagonist, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

First shit was a fantasy, then shit got real, then shit got crazy, and then shit got interesting…

In a positively shocking turn of events that no one could have seen coming, Dana White today announced via Twitter that Nick Diaz had been re-booked for a bout at UFC 137 — against BJ Penn.

With a simple swap of opponents, White deftly solved the headaches he had with Diaz and the two co-main events at UFC 137 without calling in a fighter on short notice, and simultaneously scored a huge amount of free publicity for the fight (Ed. note: Oh, the ironing.)

On top of that, White also managed to deal a pretty stiff blow to Diaz, without looking like a bad guy in the process.  Diaz now finds himself without a Strikeforce title or a fight for the UFC title, with fans jeering his own catchphrase back at him, facing a very tough veteran with a broad skill set that could very well beat him at his own game.

Ok, Nation: it’s going down.  Who ya got?

[RX]

(When Carlos Condit asked how bad you wanted to see him fight BJ Penn, he meant that shit rhetorically. Pic: Sherdog)

This week’s revelation that Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber will headline July’s UFC 132 with their bantamweight title scrap (and for some reason, apparently not coach “TUF 14″) doesn’t necessarily mean bad things for those of us who still want to see BJ Penn included in some way. It just means that – in the wake of Jon Fitch tearing up his shoulder during training – the UFC doesn’t know who to match him up against yet. As we told you last week, former WEC champ Carlos Condit has been publicly campaigning to fight Penn, but the UFC has so far been mum about that idea. At this point, it sounds like Condit is going a little OCD on it.

“I’m not really sure what’s holding it up right now,” Condit manager Malki Kawa told MMA Weekly. “Hopefully Condit’s the guy they call to do it. I don’t know if there’s a better fight than Condit for him, but we’re excited about the opportunity and hopefully, if Joe Silva, B.J. Penn, and the UFC feel like it’s something they want to do, Carlos is itching. He texts me every day, ‘Any word on B.J.?’ I’m hoping that’s what happens for him.”

("All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, the blood of my opponents, and I’m fine." Photo courtesy of Fight!)

BJ Penn isn’t exactly the most prolific fighter in the world; over the last three years, the Prodigy has only made six appearances in the Octagon. But now that he’s entered his 30s, the UFC lightweight king has vowed that his long layoffs are over, and he’s ready to get back in the cage sooner rather than later. As he told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald:

In B.J. Penn’s latest video blog he answers some fan mail and discusses his ongoing case against Georges St. Pierre that the Nevada State Athletic Commission has basically decided to hear, but do absolutely nothing in response to.  Penn seems to be blaming the NSAC’s Keith Kizer, saying he “can’t be trusted” and insisting that he has “no interest in fighting in Nevada or Las Vegas ever again.”

Just to clarify, that’s the UFC’s home base that he’s talking about – the city where the majority of their events are held.  And here the UFC lightweight champ says he doesn’t want to fight there ever again because the commission is made up of a bunch of shady ne’er-do-wells.  This could be a problem.

Many of you have weighed in on who BJ Penn might have been talking about when he said he has already found the Frazier to his Ali. Here’s a bit from The Sun that might shed some more light:

“Fighting GSP is all I think about every day. A rematch would be very good and I’ll make sure that I will 100 per cent guarantee victory if we fight again.” Penn also claimed he would be happy to face former welterweight champion Matt Hughes in a rubber match, but fears the veteran could walk away from mixed martial arts.

He added: “I’d love to fight Matt Hughes again but I think he could walk away after his loss to St Pierre. If he does walk away from the sport, I wouldn’t be surprised after what happened the other night. Before his fight with Georges, I was really hoping I’d get another shot at Matt Hughes but after that fight, that was so embarrassing for him I don’t know how he’s going to rebound from that. I’d love to fight him again. If we can put the fight together somehow I’d love it but he’s also getting older so I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Is is GSP, then? Or maybe it’s Matt Hughes and he’s just hoping to fight him again. Matt Hughes claims he’s not done, so it could happen if BJ moves up. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for ya’.

And for what it’s worth, BJ has also said he thought Matt Hughes fought like a pussy against GSP. We just think Hughes got his ass kicked.

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images. Click for full-size version.)

BJ Penn‘s 15-minute ass-kicking at the hands of Rory MacDonald at UFC on FOX 5 accomplished several things: Most importantly, it gave MacDonald a grand stage to introduce himself as one of the rulers of the welterweight division. (Established veterans and up-and-coming prospects alike are now calling him out to get attention for themselves.) The fight gave Penn the new record for total time spent in the Octagon — five hours, three minutes, and 51 seconds, surpassing Tito Ortiz — and helped sustain Penn’s own personal statistic of never being knocked down in the Octagon, a piece of trivia made even more astounding by the damage he was taking on Saturday.

The fight also meant that Penn’s six UFC appearances from 2010-2012 have resulted in only a single victory, his 21-second demolition of Matt Hughes at UFC 123. His last two fights (against MacDonald and Nick Diaz) were utterly lopsided, and before that, he was lucky to escape with a draw against Jon Fitch. As a welterweight, BJ Penn is no longer competitive with the best in the world. And like many legendary fighters, he’ll probably be the last person to realize it.

Will Penn take this latest whooping as a sign that it’s time to hang up the gloves for good? Here’s Dana White’s take on the subject, following the event:

(The “Shaka” is apparently the new “Fingers crossed behind the back.”)

Not that we’re totally surprised by it, considering his history of playing the blame game, but it looks like BJ Penn has switched from feeling sorry for himself after announcing his retirement following his UFC 137 decision loss to Nick Diaz to making excuses why he lost the fight.

Penn randomly today tweeted the following at Diaz, who is preparing for his Super Bowl weekend UFC welterweight interim title fight with Carlos Condit in a few weeks.

“@nickdiaz209 Look how much bigger you are in this pic..” he wrote, referring to the photo above. “I thought you were gonna scrap from the beginning homie? What was that coward fence holding strategy to tire out the smaller man? Street fighter my ass! I made you fight like glass jaw @jonfitchdotnet poser! I’ll be ready for that weak bs next time we fight!”

(Props: MMA Scraps)

A superstar on the rise, fist-posing next to a possibly-retired legend who barely has the strength to shaka — you can put this photo in the MMA dictionary next to “changing of the guard.”

UFC 137 provided another example of the unique emotional arc that this sport sometimes gives us. Headliners Nick Diaz and BJ Penn got into a near-tussle at the weigh-ins, spent three rounds trying to knock each other out, and after the fight they were chillin’ like two old bros. Never mind the fact that Penn’s left eye was leaking blood from all the blows he ate from Diaz, who happened to break the record for significant strikes landed in a UFC fight, by the way.

After the jump: More UFC 137 post-fight press conference highlights, in which Diaz talks about why he didn’t want to fight Penn, and explains that he didn’t go to school for buying a house. (That’ll make a little more sense when you watch it.)

(Fight begins at the 9:35 mark. Props: Yahoo! via BloodyElbow)

To help promote tomorrow’s UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch card, the UFC and Yahoo! have posted the video of BJ Penn and Matt Hughes‘s 21-second rubber match at UFC 123. Yahoo! is also hosting the full UFC 120 fight between Michael Bisping and Yoshihiro Akiyama, and one of Dennis Siver’s infamous spinning back kicks, so check ‘em out. After the jump: The Countdown to UFC 127 hype show, in which Jorge Rivera discusses his car-thief past and the tragic death of his daughter.

(No word yet on whether Penn plans to file a formal complaint against the bacterium that screwed him out of the title at UFC 112. PicProps: ESPN)

After the jump you’ll find a slickly produced video blog from the folks at ShootMedia – which we’re led to believe is just part one of an on-going series — that chronicles BJ Penn taking his training camp for UFC 118 from his beloved Hilo, Hawaii to California, where he spent the final four weeks before his 155-pound title rematch with Frankie Edgar. “BJ’s a fighter and he always wants to be on top,” says Penn boxing coach Jason Parillo at the tail end of the vid. “When you take him off the peg of being on top, we get an animal.”

While for the most part, this piece comes off as a fairly standard training blog – BJ doesn’t do anything particularly animalistic, though there is one scene of him getting after it on the rowing machine – it’s clear that Penn’s training partners appear here for one reason and one reason only: So they can say all the stuff the former lightweight champ wants us to know, but doesn’t want to actually say himself. Case in point: Taking on the topic of the sinus infection said to hamper his performance at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.

Going into his UFC 118 title rematch against Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn is carrying a title that he hasn’t had since before UFC 80 — former champion. We’re willing to believe that the Prodigy had an off night in Abu Dhabi, but if he wants his belt back he’ll have to relocate the kind of violent aggression that got him to the top in the first place. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at four of Penn’s early fights that set him up as a star in the UFC, and laid the groundwork for the legend that was to come…

BJ Penn vs. Joey Gilbert, UFC 31, 5/4/01

As the first non-Brazilian to win the black belt division at the Mundials, Penn entered the UFC with a reputation to uphold. But he wasn’t looking to become the next Royce Gracie. Even from the beginning, the Prodigy was a true hybrid fighter, whose grappling and striking worked in tandem. His Octagon debut was against another UFC newbie, Joey Gilbert (1-1 MMA record at the time), and though Gilbert showed impressive ground defense in neutralizing Penn’s attacks and positions, Penn was finally able to flatten Gilbert out on his stomach and whale him in the head until the ref stopped the fight with three seconds left of the first round. It looked like there might be something to this BJ Penn kid after all.

BJ Penn vs. Din Thomas, UFC 32, 6/29/01

Penn returned to action just eight weeks later to take on another fighter who was making his UFC debut. But even though Din Thomas was new to the Octagon, he’d already been around the block, compiling a 12-1 record with all victories by stoppage and a notable win over future champ Jens Pulver. Penn plays guard for a while (and shows off his famous leg flexibility at the vid’s 2:13 mark), but once Thomas starts to threaten with ground-and-pound, Penn escapes to his feet and turns Din off with a perfectly-placed knee to the jaw. The Prodigy was no fluke, and the UFC’s fledgling lightweight division was officially on notice.

We told you Diego Sanchez was a little bit weird, but you just wouldn’t believe us.  Maybe you’ll change your mind once you see his pre-UFC 107 video blog, in which he plays with an iguana to help his reflexes.  Not that we don’t respect his positive attitude.  I mean, the guy’s car breaks down on the side of the road and he breaks into song.  Although it’s still unclear how he turned that particular negative into a positive.  From what we can tell, it was pretty much all negative.  Sure, he got a ride in someone else’s Toyota Yaris, but those of us who have driven a Yaris know damn well that it’s basically one step up from those Flintstones cars, if that.  At least those things looked heavy enough that you didn’t have to worry about a strong wind sweeping you off the road.

After the jump, we give equal time to some of B.J. Penn‘s annoying thirty second videos.   Because editing stuff together is for haoles, bra.

(GSP’s fists later tested positive for Asskickazolol and 4-Hydroxyawesome. Photo courtesy of LA Times.)

His greasing crusade never amounted to much, but UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn won’t rest until arch-rival Georges St. Pierre is busted for something. In a new interview with Yahoo! Sports, the Prodigy launched yet another explosive accusation:

The easy storyline for the main event of UFC 101 is as follows: BJ Penn is the spoiled champion who has enjoyed success due to prodigious fighting ability, and not necessarily through hard work, while Kenny Florian is the hungry, focused, scrappy challenger who works harder than Penn outside of the cage and is mentally tougher inside of it. But the Prodigy we’ve seen in the training camp for this fight isn’t the lazy, complacent one we know and love. The fact that BJ has brought in Marv Marinovich as his strength and conditioning coach, and has moved out of the insular world of Hilo to train with an impressively stacked camp in California, suggests that Penn wants to try new things in the wake of his one-sided loss to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94. For a fighter so far along in his career, it’s an inspiring and somewhat unexpected attitude. And if Penn is taking this fight as seriously as Florian, it’s a bad sign for the challenger.

Later in the above video preview, Anderson Silva calls Robert Drysdale a "fool" and an "idiot" for suggesting that Forrest Griffin will submit him during their light-heavyweight feature. Spike’s "Countdown to UFC 101" special premieres tonight at 11 p.m. ET/PT. After the jump, Diego Sanchez discusses his imminent title shot and who he’d like to see prevail in the Penn/Florian match.

(Props: BJPenn.com)

As part of his one-man Warren Commission on that unfortunate UFC 94 greasing scandal, BJ Penn has released a highlight video of sorts, intended to prove exactly why Georges St. Pierre is a dirty, rotten, no-good cheater. I don’t know if Penn hired the same team responsible for putting together UFC Primetime, but this is a first-class production, all the way. Imagine if Genghis Con was a crybaby bitch who couldn’t accept that fact that he got crushed by GSP — this is the kind of video he’d make.

Oh, I kid the proud Hawaiian. To be honest, Penn presents a compelling case, and it does seem mighty suspicious that Sean Sherk, Matt Hughes, and Jason Miller all came up with the same excuse as to why they couldn’t handle St. Pierre. As the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s a hot pre-fight bath followed by a baby-oil rubdown. Also, the video’s use of "Tom Sawyer" by Rush? A very subtle dig at GSP’s Canadianism. Where’s your mean, mean pride, Georges?

(Georges St. Pierre and Firas "Take About 20 or 30 Minutes and Go Fuck Yourself" Zahabi drill some standup at Tri-Star. Photo courtesy of DayLife.com.)

From TheFightNetwork: 

Here’s my theory: GSP was so infuriated by BJ Penn’s greasing accusations, which stole so much attention from St. Pierre’s historic win, that he’s making it his life’s work to make sure Penn gets crushed by everyone else he faces in the future. It’s not like St. Pierre can completely transfer his gameplan to Florian — that would require Ken-Flo to pack on about 25 pounds of muscle and become an elite-level wrestler in a matter of months — but as he stated after the fight, GSP went into UFC 94 with certain ideas about Penn’s thoracic cage and core strength that turned out to be rather insightful. If Zahabi and GSP can work with Florian on effective ways to assault Penn’s body and pass his guard, maybe he’ll have a snowball’s chance in hell after all. As Penn mentioned on his Facebook page, he hopes to take on Kenny in June. 

(Image courtesy of BloodyElbow) 

Despite rumors that BJ Penn was considering retirement directly before or after his brutal, slippery loss against Georges St. Pierre on Saturday, BJ Penn has updated his Facebook page with a message that he’ll "for sure" be facing Kenny Florian in his next fight, possibly in June. (This follows a previous Facebook comment where Penn wrote "gsp was a bit greased but that takes nothin away from him at all he was the better guy!") Florian last fought at UFC 91 in November, where he scored a first-round submission victory over Joe Stevenson. So, he’ll have to make a choice that’s now all-too-familiar — take a long layoff and wait for BJ to be ready in the summer, or risk his #1 contender status with another place-holder bout.

And just to keep you up to speed on "Lubegate"…

(Come on bro, the handicapped kid falling off his crutches in the middle of the road wasn’t *that* funny…)

BJ Penn on Hardcore Sports Radio, via MMA Mania:

BOOM. You know, if this whole fighting thing doesn’t work out, Penn has a future as an insult comic; he’s got the rhythm down perfectly. Can’t wait to see what other parting words the Prodigy has on the last episode of UFC Primetime, which airs this Wednesday on Spike TV. Assuming he was actually around for the the third episode’s taping, that is — and you can never tell with these hot-blooded Hawaiians.

St. Pierre‘s hype-building style is a little more reserved, but he still slips his shots in when he can. Check out the interview video below, where he brings out the classic "he have said a lot of bad thing about me" chestnut that worked so well for him before his second fight with Matt Serra, and clarifies that he’s also willing to fight Penn to the death, should it come to that. Damn…whoever’s reffing Saturday’s main event better make sure they don’t fall asleep on the job.

(Props: MMA Mania)

As Georges St. Pierre explains in his latest blog post for Yardbarker:

Thursday a.m. I went to a radio show with BJ and they gave me a taste of Hawaiian cuisine. In the beginning when I took my bite — before I swallowed it they told me it was cat. So I right away spit it out because I thought it was true. And then after they told me it was a joke. It was pork — a piece of pork in pasta — it was pretty good.

Quite a good sport, that GSP. Some other highlights from his blog…

— "I was sitting right next to Brock Lesnar’s parents [at UFC 91]. They are very nice guys — I was expecting his parents to be very tall and very big, you know? But they’re normal size — I mean they’re tall, but not as tall as Brock. We had a good talk, and I really had a good time with them."

— "At night we went to the Maple Leafs game. It was very funny because they made me do an announcement on the screen in front of everybody in the Air Canada Center with a Maple Leafs jersey. I said ‘To the Count of Three, I want everybody to get very noisy’. Then the crowd went nuts, they applaud me. When the camera went off me, I sat down and took my jersey off. And when I was taking my jersey off, the camera came back on me and the crowd started booing me because they know I’m from Montreal and I’m a Montreal Canadiens fan. I thought it was very funny."

To read the rest, click here.