BJ Penn training with Jose Aldo and Renan Barao in Brazil ahead of UFC 232 return

With Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz back in the pay-per-view (PPV) spotlight, we might as well have former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) two-division champion, BJ Penn, return to the cage as well, despite his retirement from mixed martial arts (MMA) back in ... well, he’s retired a bunch of times (like here and here), so yeah, he’s not going anywhere.

Especially when the promotion gave him someone he could beat.

Penn (16-12-2) will abandon the featherweight division — as promised — and try to get back into the win column at 155 pounds by way of Ryan Hall, who meets “The Prodigy” at UFC 232 next month in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I’m just in the process of finalizing a new four-fight contract with the UFC,” Penn told BJPenn.com.“Everything is going good. I am down here in Brazil. Andre Pederneiras is running the camp. Leo Santos is doing the jiu-jitsu, and Johnny Eduardo is helping me with my striking. (Jose) Aldo and (Renan) Barao are both around helping. There is just so many young tough guys here, it is honestly unreal.”

Penn turns 40 in roughly two weeks and has just one victory over the last nine years. I don’t want to be too hard on the Hawaiian, but it should be noted he’s now dropped five straight and couldn’t even get past the middling Dennis Siver.

That said, he still seems to be pretty good at street fighting.

Hall, 33, cut his teeth on season 22 of The Ultimate Fighter and has already racked up two wins under the UFC banner, but hasn’t seen action in nearly two years. If Penn can’t get this one bagged and tagged, then it’s time to have this conversation again.

To see who else is fighting at UFC 232 click here.