BJ Penn spoke out on his website about a rib injury he sustained during his fight with Matt Hughes on Saturday night.
On the second round:
“I felt great going in, Matt started trying to take me down from my right leg, it’s something I expected he might do. He got me down against the fence, but I was thinking about this position alot and I was ready. When he went for a big elbow, he missed and I capitalized and started going for his back. At this moment, when I was making the turn towards his back, I felt my ribs seperate on my right side. Although I didn’t know the severity of the situation. I was thinking I have to finish him now because I knew something was wrong. Matt defended himself well and got through the round. When I got up to walk to my corner, I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t want to talk about it with my corner. I wanted to be the champ. I wanted to keep fighting.”
On the third round:
“I remember standing up out of the corner in pain. But I was thinking, “Earn your title this is what you have to do to get your belt back, fight through the pain”. I knew the oppurtunity I had with getting this fight, especially after losing my last fight. I wasn’t going to quit on the corner. I kept going because I honestly believed it was destiny. When me and Matt were boxing I felt like I couldn’t breathe and had no mobility in my core. But I kept thinking something good is going to happen. When Matt started dominating the stand up I tried for a takedown. I had nothing and pulled to guard. I felt like I couldn’t do anything on the ground. But I was still positive. Matt hit me in the ribs from half guard. The pain was so excruciating I had to use my far hand to block it. I would rather Matt pass my guard and punch my face the hit my ribs. When Matt was in his favorite position that he likes. I was still thinking I was going to win somehow. Big John gave me plenty of time. I practiced defending against that position with flexibility, but I had none with my core. Even when Big John stopped the fight, I was still so positive I thought I escaped. Congratulations to Matt, he is a great fighter. It’s not his fault that that happened, he fought like the champion he is. He deserved the victory.”
Source: BJPenn.com
Dana White took questions at the UFC 63 post-fight press conference about Pride, what happened with Wanderlei Silva, and what’s next — or where’s next — for UFC.
On Pride: “I think it’s great for the sport”¦ There are going to be a lot of guys up-and-coming. There are a lot of opportunities for these guys to make money, so I can’t have everybody. I can’t pay everybody”¦ I think it’s necessary.”
On Silva: “Let’s put it this way, everybody’s terrorized me about the fight with Wanderlei Silva. I’ve been trying to make that fight for five years…trust me when I tell you, I’d love to have Wanderlei Silva under contract with the UFC.”
When asked about Silva’s loss to Mirko Cro Cop in Pride on September 10th: “I think he just got executed. Isn’t that what happened to him? Did he wake up yet?”
On Expansion: “We’re going to get real aggressive over the next two, three years. We’re going to expand our market. We’re going down to Mexico. We’re going up to Canada. We’re going over to the U.K. in October. We’re going to do 4 or 5 fights a year over there. We’re going to see how that goes and then possibly reaching out into Europe.”
Quotes Source: MMAWeekly
UFC 64: Unstoppable will take place on October 14th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets for the event are now on sale.
Confirmed bouts:
Rumored bouts:
According to several sources UFC has released Lightweight fighter Yves Edwards. Edwards was originally rumored to be fighting Justin James at UFC 64, but the company was said to be lacking faith in him after two losses in a row (Mark Hominick at UFC 58 and Joe Stevenson at UFC 61).
We will keep you posted on Edwards’ status with UFC.
