Former UFC champion BJ "The Prodigy" Penn lost to Frankie Edgar at The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale one month ago today, Aug. 6, and the Hawaiian superstar promptly retired from the sport after the bout.
In a recent interview with BJPenn.com, Penn talked about his fight with Edgar, his decision to drop to featherweight for the fight at The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale and his stylistic changes for the bout.
Speaking about the fight itself, Penn gave no clues as to why he performed poorly, instead choosing the gentlemen's route and simply complimenting Edgar for a fine performance.
"Hats off to Frankie Edgar; he fought a great fight," Penn told BJPenn.com. "I went in there and I gave it my best effort, you know, and everything ended up the way it did.”
Penn goes on to talk about how everything felt fine before the fight and he simply didn't perform, but an interesting soundbite popped up when the former UFC champ was asked about nutritionist Mike Dolce.
Dolce, the bestselling author of The Dolce Diet and creator of UFC Fit, helps fighters cut weight while maintaining their energy and power. His work has helped welterweight Thiago Alves and Johny Hendricks shed huge amounts of weight and still show up on fight night, so when Penn announced he would utilize Dolce's services for his cut to 145, fans sighed a breath of relief.
Penn would make weight. Dolce wouldn't let him fail, would he?
As Penn explains it, things weren't so perfect with Mr. Dolce.
"As far as Mike Dolce goes, I would never hire him again for anything," Penn said.
When asked to elaborate, Penn simply replied, "No, that’s it. Next question.”
To Dolce's credit, Penn did look physically healthy on fight night, but The Prodigy was clearly unhappy with some part of his method.
Quickly changing the subject, the interviewer asked Penn if he plans to stay retired, and his response was clear.
"I think I should stay retired," Penn said. "If you saw me spar in the gym or work out with any of these guys you would say, ‘man, this guy should be fighting everybody.’ But after the last few fights I’m kind of getting tired."
For more questions and answers, including Penn's thoughts on competing in grappling tournaments such as Metamoris, you can read the full interview here.
