UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn has revealed that he's been talking to UFC president Dana White about making a return to the welterweight division in the not-too-distant future.

Penn held the UFC welterweight belt earlier in his career, earning the title with a victory over Matt Hughes at UFC 46, although he never held the title concurrently with his present lightweight belt. Penn ended up leaving the UFC a short time after winning the welterweight title, due to a contract dispute, and the organization responded by stripping him of his title. 

The win against Hughes six years ago marked the last time Penn was victorious at welterweight in a UFC fight. He has come up short in three attempts since, once to Hughes and twice to current welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.

Still, all but his last loss to St. Pierre was controversial, and came against the two most dominant welterweight fighters in UFC history. The losses seem to have only spurred Penn forward to train harder and become a better fighter.

As Penn has dominated the UFC's lightweight division of late, the idea of a Penn return to welterweight seems to hold a lot of interest with fans and UFC management alike.

"Dana has expressed some things to me that he would want to see this year, maybe me in the welterweight division," said Penn on BJPenn.com. "We will see. I have got a tough fight with Frankie Edgar coming up. [And] there is always good lightweight talent. There is a bunch of welterweight contenders up there. I guess I would just have to say, I don't have my mind set on anything yet... I don't want to jump the gun and give away all Dana's plans!"

Despite his recent frustrations as a welterweight, the challenge of succeeding and making his mark against physically larger fighters seems to continue to be a lure for Penn's competitive spirit.

"My weight right now - I just finally got a battery for my scale - I think I am about 167.5 or 168," Penn stated. "You have got these big guys, they walk around [heavy] and they are strong. I don't know if I am the only guy, but I think it is about pushing yourself and seeing how far you go. And it's about failing sometimes - and failing miserably sometimes - but standing up afterwords and realizing what happened, and the mistakes that you made. But, I think that I cannot picture myself becoming complacent, staying in one place. Not that I could defend the lightweight title forever, I know that's impossible, you can't win every one. But, I think there is nothing wrong with pushing yourself, seeing how far can you actually go."

Penn, who is 15-5-1 in his MMA career, will next return to action when he defends his lightweight title against Frankie Edgar at UFC 112 on April 10 in Abu Dhabi. Edgar, who is 11-1, has a three-fight win streak and is coming off of a submission victory over Matt Veach at The Ultimate Finale 10.