also earned Penn the distinction of being the only man to have stopped Sanchez. The performance marked the third time Penn had successfully finished a fight in defending his UFC Lightweight Championship, setting a new record of lightweight title defenses, by breaking the previous record of two defenses by Jens Pulver. Later during the post-fight press conference UFC President Dana White told the media he was proud of Penn's willingness to take MMA more seriously in his training when earlier he felt Penn had coasted through the UFC solely on natural talent. Losing the title Penn's next defense was on April 10, 2010, at UFC 112 against Frankie Edgar. Despite being an overwhelming favorite coming into the fight, Penn lost the closely contested bout by unanimous decision; breaking his eight-year undefeated streak in the lightweight division. 8 of 9 media outlets scored the bout in favor of Penn. After the fight, Penn congratulated Edgar on winning the belt. Despite this, the results garnered much criticism as many disagreed with the judges decision after the five round fight, having believed that Penn had done enough to earn himself the victory. Due to the controversy surrounding the outcome, an immediate rematch with Edgar was scheduled as his first title defense. Penn fought Edgar in a rematch at UFC 118. Edgar was able to negate his ground offense and control the fight with good movement and striking combinations. All three judges scored the fight 50–45 for Edgar. Return to welterweight and hiatus Penn fought Matt Hughes at UFC 123 in a rubber match after their previous two fights at UFC 46 and UFC 63. Penn defeated Hughes in 21 seconds of the first round by knockout after flooring Hughes with a right hand and following with additional strikes on the mat. Penn earned knockout of the night honors for his performance. Following the UFC 123 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White said that Penn would fight top welterweight contender Jon Fitch at UFC 127 in Australia. Penn trained with Matt Hughes and Floyd Mayweather Sr. in preparation for the fight. Penn surprised Fitch by taking him to the ground instead of using his stand up skills. The fight ended in a draw, snapping Fitch's five fight UFC win streak, and Penn stated that he would gladly have a rematch in the future. UFC matchmaker Joe Silva stated that neither the fans nor