What UFC 200 needs is a little bit of The Prodigy.
BJ Penn is often left out of the top five GOAT lists of fight fans but nobody was more exciting to watch than Baby Jay.
The former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion retired from MMA last July but has revealed that there is one grudge match that would tempt him back to the sport.
And it’s all based around a dietician.
Former fighter Mike Dolce is famous for helping fighters out with their weight cuts and his services aren’t cheap. He was in Penn’s camp for the Hawaiian’s final fight against Frankie Edgar but Penn notably struggled with the cut.
When asked about the Dolce Diet on UFC Tonight, Penn exploded into a tirade against Dolce and claimed that he wanted to take on one of his high-profile clients.
“I’m sick and tired of hearing about Mike Dolce,” Penn said. “You know what Mike Dolce, I’ll put a challenge out right now — you go grab Nik Lentz, that’s your boy, bring him down to 145 lbs, I’ll run right through him in one round and then I’ll find you in the back and I’ll smash you.
“Let’s do that right now. I’m ready.”
Penn will always possess a fighter’s spirit and it surprised nobody to hear him itching to get back in the octagon but should we take his plans with a grain of salt? Kenny Florian and Michael Bisping pressed The Prodigy to find out if a return to fighting was genuinely on the cards.
“Mike Dolce wants to say all this stuff — I don’t train, I don’t do this and that — let’s do this,” Penn said. “Bring (Lentz) down to 145, and I would come out for that.
“You’re talking about me coming out of retirement, some things were said and got me heated. I was there, he was there to work for 20 days, I paid him $1,000 a day, and I’m not here to talk about that again but I’m just sick and tired of hearing it.”
If we crossed our fingers any harder they’d be broken.