Soul Surfer, the inspirational true story of a young girl who courageously got her arm bitten off by a shark, became the surprise hit of spring, grossing almost $41 million thus far on a modest $18 million budget, and winning fans along the way. Apparently one such fan is former UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn, seen above licking an opponent’s blood off his gloves (oh sure, but when my doctor does the same thing, he gets fired). As Penn recently told Inside MMA’s Ron Kruck:
BJ: “You know what? People might think it’s a long shot from this point out, but I really would like to be the world champ again at 170 pounds, you know, and I try to hold out as long as I can and when I get knocked off, because everyone’s going to get knocked off, I’d love to go back to 155 and win one more time. If I could do that, I can go to sleep at night. It would be much easier, you know, I don’t know any specific names or whoever the champion is at that time, you know. … I really want to be world champ again. You know, I was watching that Soul Surfer movie the other day, the girl (Bethany Hamilton) who lost her arm… and if she can go out and keep surfing professionally, I can go get another world title.” [BloodyElbow via Fightlinker]
I won’t bore you with the details, but BJ Penn is an eccentric dude, and it is highly unlikely that he was being anything but completely earnest when he said that. It’s funny to think of a blood-drinking nutjob who fights people for a living being inspired by the story of a 14-year-old surfer girl, but I’m sure this happens all the time. It’s like Ben Roethlisberger always used to say, “So I was in the women’s sh*tter, trying to get this skank to give me a beej, but she was being a prude. And at first I was like, ‘Oh well, there’s other whores who’ll need to use the toilet.’ But then I thought, wait, f*ck that. You know who wouldn’t have taken no for an answer? Seabiscuit.”