BJ Penn vs Jose Aldo? ‘Prodigy’ won’t sleep at night until he wins UFC featherweight title

The boy who cried championship?

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight and welterweight titleholder, B.J. Penn, is returning to mixed martial arts (MMA) this Sunday night (Jan. 15, 2017) at UFC Fight Night 103 inside Talking Stick Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.

Waiting to greet him — by way of fist to the face — is rising featherweight up-and-comer Yair Rodriguez, who probably doesn’t care about all the hullabaloo surrounding the Hawaiian’s 145-pound debut.

If that’s the case, “Pantera” will like all this title talk even less.

“Definitely, the third title is also 100 percent driving me,” Penn told MMA Fighting. “Getting those three titles in three different weight classes, that would just be an awesome accomplishment for myself, and then I could probably get some sleep at night. That is my driving factor.”

Penn (16-10) expects a “quick” return to the cage following this weekend’s duties on FOX Sports 1.

While “The Prodigy” sounds sincere, it’s hard to purge the memory of his lopsided (and bloody) defeat to Frankie Edgar back in summer 2014, a performance that Penn himself admitted was proof he “shouldn’t have come back.”

And if “The Answer” was able to outstrike and outmuscle the aging grappler, imagine what stronger, faster opponent like 145-pound kingpin Jose Aldo might do?

Sunday night’s performance may help answer that question.