BJ Penn Travels To Utah For Eye Surgery

B.J. Penn

Penn travels to Utah for eye surgery

Former UFC champion BJ Penn ventured to Salt Lake City, Utah to correct a certain eye issue.

"The Prodigy" will visit Dr. Alan Crandall, according to BJPenn.com, to repair an eye suffering from cataracts.

Crandall is best known throughout the combat sports realm for his work with Antonio Margarito. The surgeon completed eye surgery on the boxing champion, and Margarito was licensed for competition following the procedure.

"I got a cataract in my left eye and I'm heading out to do (sic) see Dr. Crandall," Penn revealed on his website. "He is the guy that did Margarito's eye and the UFC set this up for me."

Penn last competed at UFC on FOX 5, dropping a unanimous decision to Rory MacDonald in a lopsided affair. Prior to that loss, he was defeated in October of 2011 by current welterweight top contender Nick Diaz.

He first noticed the issue with his eye in January of 2012, and his doctor revealed to him that a cataract was the issue. He says the eye problem did not effect the outcome of his bout against MacDonald.

The future of Penn remains up in the air. UFC president Dana White has expressed his desire to see him retire from competition, but Penn has yet to announce his retirement from the sport.

For the time being, however, his fight career is on hold until the proper corrections have been made to his eye.

"I'm definitely hesitant to fight right now with the cataract in my eye," Penn said. "People ask me all the time if I'm going to fight again and I almost just want to change the subject because right now, I definitely don't want to fight with a cataract in my eye."

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