For the first time since the news broke that he was out of UFC 132, B.J. Penn has broken his silence about the injury that plagued him during his last fight, and kept him off the July 2 card as well.

A shoulder injury that occurred before the first fight with Fitch in February didn’t get any better after the bout, and Penn was still suffering with inflammation and immobility.

“I hurt my shoulder before the Jon Fitch fight real bad,” Penn said via his personal website on Friday. “Of course pushing my shoulder really hard during the Jon Fitch fight hurt my shoulder even more.”

Regardless of the time off between fights, Penn was unable to rehab his shoulder in the right way so he was forced to join his opponent Jon Fitch on injured reserve.

As far as a timeline for his return, Penn speculates it would be at least a couple of months resting the shoulder, but he’s still happy to meet Fitch when they are both healthy again.

“I need about 6 to 8 weeks to take it easy on my shoulder and rest,” Penn said. “I don’t know if Jon Fitch is ready we can do it soon or take a new opponent.”

If the shoulder recovers in that amount of time, Penn would likely be looking at a late summer return to the Octagon.

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