Inside MMA recently asked BJ Penn if he was ready to announce his retirement following a embarrassing loss to 23-year old prospect Rory MacDonald. This comes on the heels of UFC President Dana White publicly expressing his desire to see Penn retire. Penn's response was "I am taking some time to figure it out." The loss to MacDonald was the fourth loss in six fights for Penn, who lost his UFC lightweight title to Frank Edgar in 2010, and subsequently lost a rematch with Edgar by a wider margin later that year. Penn returned to welterweight in November of 2010 and scored a knockout over old nemesis Matt Hughes, who has since retired. In 2011 Penn fought to a majority draw with welterweight contender Jon Fitch, leading some to believe he had a welterweight title run still in him. Penn fought Nick Diaz later that year and was brutalized by the Californian, leading to his first temporary retirement. Fans were surprised in 2012 when it was revealed that Penn was looking to return to the Octagon and had called-out welterweight standout Rory MacDonald, who was coming off three straight victories in the division. Penn claimed to have unfinished business with Tristar Montreal head trainer Firaz Zahabi, who in 2009 had coached Georges St-Pierre to a dominant win over Penn in Las Vegas. MacDonald is the latest welterweight prodigy to come out of Tristar and knocking him down was seen by Penn as some form of revenge against Zahabi and St-Pierre. Prior to their fight Penn insisted that he and MacDonald both undergo additional performance enhancing drug screening provided by VADA, continuing on a public smear campaign against Tristar that had begun in 2008 when Penn first started accusing St-Pierre of being a cheater and steroid abuser. Penn's followers have been waiting to hear from the former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion, who returned to his native Hawaii following the MacDonald fight but didn't issue any statement on his official website regarding his health or career status.
