|
Penn-t Up: UFC Welterweight Champ Sheds Light On Contract Speculations By Loretta Hunt 
It's becoming a familiar situation in the fight world. MMA promotions want to turn a profit, but fighters don't fight for free. Hawaiian powerhouse BJ Penn's name has been the latest added to a growing list of fighters joining the ever-delicate dance called "contract negotiations." Penn grasped the UFC welterweight title at January 31st's UFC 46, but was spotted at a recent K-1 event in Japan with talks of fighting there as early as May 22nd. In an exclusive interview with FCF, Penn comments on his current contractual standings with both the UFC and K-1, verbal agreements made, a 15-day first refusal period, and a story that up till now has remained mostly untold.FCF: BJ, thank you for keeping in touch with FCF over the last two weeks and agreeing to speak with us at this time. You recently traveled to Japan and made public your wish to fight in the K-1 promotion there. First off, are you still under contract with the UFC at this point in time? BJP: My contract ended in maybe June or September 2003, the term ended at least, and that was the last fight on my contract with Matt Hughes. So, when you win the title, it turns into another three-fight [deal], but the money's not negotiated yet, so we don't know where we are. We're trying to maybe talk to the UFC and sign some kind of agreement, so we don't give up the title, 'cause if we give up the title, I'm pretty sure that -- I don't know for sure exactly -- but I'm pretty sure that our contract is done after that and we don't have those extra three fights. I don't know 100% if that's how it works, but I think it might like work like that. FCF: How did the K-1 proposal come about? Did K-1 contact you? BJP: We know a guy and I guess he's got friends in K-1 and this and that, and K-1 was very, very interested. I think Japan's more interested in the lightweights and the smaller fighters. They wanna do something with the smaller fighters. We talk to the UFC and they always talk about the heavyweights, the heavyweights, so it would be good for me to make some money and go to Japan and fight the lightweights, and keep my career in the UFC, whatever fights I can do, whatever fights I can get, whatever fights they can offer me. I'm not trying to run away from them. FCF: To clarify, right now you are in a negotiations process with the UFC. Do you have a contact with them or not? BJP: Well, my contract is done actually. That's just a sketchy subject. I don't know if I can really come on here and say right now. FCF: Would it be safe to say that any current contract or partially completed contract with the UFC is in flux? BJP: Yes, it's in flux. There are some terms that have not been solidified on either side. That's exactly what's going on. FCF: If your contract had been 100% solidified with the UFC, would you be negotiating with K-1 now as well? BJP: If my contract had been more solid with the UFC, I can't even negotiate with K-1 if it's like that. But, still, I would have tried to talk with the UFC and see if they could let me fight over there and make some money. It's kind of a weird thing where who knows if the UFC would want me to fight in K-1, even if they knew I was making a considerable amount more money than I'd make with them. Who knows how that would have worked out anyway if I would have gone to them first. FCF: But, since your contract with the UFC is not completely settled, you legally have the right at this point to field other offers. Is that correct? BJP: Definitely. I'm not tied down. My term is over. I'm tied down into having the title, but me and Dana White had a verbal agreement that we were gonna get rid of [Penn would renounce] the welterweight title and fight for the lightweight title when there was a solid champion. We had another verbal agreement that we could fight anywhere we wanted to. Rumble On The Rock was one. We mentioned King Of The Cage and a couple of other shows, and maybe they were just thinking small time and this K-1 deal just happened to pop up. Maybe it's just the idea of fighting in another big show.
BJP: Kinda both ways. We were thinking about -- we wanted to fight [Kazushi] Sakuraba and we wanted to do it any way we could, whether it was with the UFC in PRIDE, but we didn't know how interested the UFC was in putting us in PRIDE. I don't think they were very interested at all. I don't know how the UFC and PRIDE's relationship is or what's going on there, but I definitely don't think they were interested in having us fight for the UFC in PRIDE. FCF: When you say "the UFC putting us in PRIDE" you basically mean the promotion granting you the right to go over as a UFC fighter, promoting their name and event in Japan? BJP: Exactly, promoting the UFC in Japan. That's what we tried to talk to them about with K-1, but I don't feel they have any interest in promoting the UFC in that way, I guess, in Japan. That's another one of the things. Let's go over as a UFC fighter and do it, but I guess that's not what the UFC has in mind. I'm trying to get in touch with Dana [White, UFC president], but I know its been tough with the holidays and Easter, so maybe he's not answering his phone right now, so if anyone sees him out there, tell him BJ Penn's trying to get in touch with him. FCF: So, right now with the UFC, it is a matter of negotiating the purse amounts for the three fights on the table that came from your title win. BJP: And I'm willing to fight for whatever they can offer me. It's not a situation where I'm running from them, I just got the title and I'm leaving them, like what everybody else is doing. I'll fight for what they can pay me. These guys [K-1] can pay me more? Hey, let BJ go out and make some money. Let him represent the UFC name if you want him to do that. He wants to do that. I always liked the UFC from day one, ever since I saw UFC 2. I'm just as excited about the UFC as the first time I saw it and I'm still excited about it. I think it's just different people with different ideas of where they want their careers to go. Maybe Dana White wants his career to go a certain way, and I NEED my career to go as big as possible. How many fights do I have left? Who knows? Next one I could get my eye socket crushed in and never fight again. You never know what's going to happen, so it's always good to make the most of it now. FCF: Have you signed anything with K-1? BJP: We have an agreement, but it could be confidential. FCF: Are we talking a verbal agreement? BJP: No, a paper agreement, but it could be confidential, so I don't know. We have an agreement with K-1 and the UFC has fifteen working days to match the offer. But, the UFC doesn't have to match the offer. I don't need that money from the UFC. I will take whatever money the UFC can offer me and this money [from the K-1 deal]. FCF: Where are you and the UFC in this fifteen-day process? BJP: I think it might end around the 29th. We'll find out exactly what's happening on the 29th. It might go to something further where they can try and make me sit out for a year, but why would you want to do that to a fighter? I'm not trying to leave the UFC. I'm not trying to stab them in the back. I'm just trying to make some money. Why would you want to ruin a fighter's career for a year? In good faith, as a good human being, why would you want to do that? FCF: Do you have some more negotiations pending with the UFC? Is your management actively trying to still work something out with the UFC? BJP: I'm trying to talk to Dana. I came to Waikiki to SuperBrawl looking for Dana, just so I could say, hey Dana, let's go out to lunch or something. Let's come to some kind of agreement. We don't have to talk about everything. Let's just talk a little. Get a beer. Not that there's a real bad thing going on, but at least to get talking. FCF: Until things become clearer after April 29th, this must be a somewhat stressful time for you. BJP: I still don't even know if I'm going to fight May 22nd [in K-1]. I'm still training like I'm gonna fight, but it's kind of weird. For the first time, I don't know if I'm actually gonna get to fight. I don't know if the UFC's gonna try and keep me there, or if they can keep me there. FCF: What do you mean by "keep you there?" BJP: I mean try to match the offer. But there's one thing. The UFC knows how much people want me now. They're probably seeing how bad K-1 wants me. They know that I could have a big career, but still, even with that, I'm not trying to bleed them for any money. FCF: Has the UFC given any monetary offer for those three fights yet? BJP: Yeah, we had some talks and some verbal agreements, but not anything I want to comment on right now. We had some talks and I was happy with the talks we've had. FCF: It might be difficult for you to go into specifics at this time, but could you give a general range of where the K-1 deal falls monetarily in relation to your UFC negotiations? BJP: You figure, to show, K-1 wanted to pay me five times as much just to show up for one fight, and that's just talking about the first fight. Imagine when I start beating the shit out of everybody. FCF: Out of this entire situation, how would BJ Penn like things to turn out? What do you want to do? BJP: I want to fight May 22nd. I want to fight in K-1 and the UFC at the same time. Kimo can do it. Genki Sudo can do it. Duane Ludwig can do it. Do I have to give up my title so I can do it too? If that's what I have to do... FCF: You will do that? You will give up the UFC title? BJP: Yeah, if I have to. If this was a perfect world, any fighter could just fight wherever they wanted to. FCF: Kimo and Sudo don't have a UFC title. So, you're saying that you are willing to give up your title so you could fight in both of those promotions? BJP: Yup, because we were gonna give up the UFC title anyway. We had a verbal agreement with Dana that we were gonna give up the title anyway. That's the whole thing. FCF: What are your goals with K-1? Why are you interested in fighting with them? BJP: To make a couple bucks and promote myself internationally -- I think that is the number one thing. People already know me in the U.S. and I want to go internationally. I want to fight Japanese fighters. I like Japan and its culture, which is close to Hawaii's. FCF: Who would you like to fight first in K-1? BJP: We're going for Genki first. We want to fight a Japanese fighter. Japan's crowd is not going to care as much if two Americans fight. Who better than Genki, because he was running his mouth saying he could beat me and [Caol] Uno in the same night and it's something I never forgot. I want to show him what happens when you talk like that. FCF: In your recent trip to Japan and a K-1 event, you were satisfied with your initial impressions? BJP: I definitely think they're professional businessmen and this is about business. In the K-1 agreement we have with them, even if we didn't have these problems with the UFC contract and stuff, K-1 still wants me to fight. They know it's business. FCF: So, you're saying K-1 has no problem with you fighting for them and fighting in the UFC at the same time? BJP: No problem at all. FCF: But, you still want to fight in the UFC as well? BJP: I still like the UFC. I want to fight there. It would hurt me bad mentally if I fought in K-1, and couldn't fight there. And it would also hurt me to know that I couldn't fight in K-1. I want to fight in both. FCF: BJ, thank you for your candidness. We wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. |
| © All materials contained in the Full Contact Fighter web site are protected by copyright and to be used only for personal and noncommercial uses. Public display or copying for sale or public distribution of any of these materials is strictly prohibited. |