SEATTLE » The war of words between B.J. Penn and Rory MacDonald escalated at Thursday’s press conference.

"Rory said he took this fight because he really wants to hurt me. He said I’m probably going to die in the ring," Penn said flatly.

He then turned to his left to make sure he had McDonald’s attention, looking his opponent dead in the eyes.

"He better be ready to back up everything he said."

Penn’s 13-month absence from the octagon ends tonight, as the Hilo native and former UFC welterweight and lightweight champion fights MacDonald in one of two co-feature bouts during the UFC on FOX 5 event at Key Arena.

The four-fight main card, headlined by a UFC lightweight title bout between champion Ben Henderson and Nate Diaz, will be shown live on KHON at 3 p.m. Hawaii time.

The fight is the first for Penn since October 2011, when he lost to Nick Diaz and announced his retirement following the bout.

That layoff didn’t last long, as a Twitter exchange between Penn and MacDonald led to a proposed fight in September that was ultimately pushed back to today.

"I was just kind of hanging out, started to get the itch that I wanted to fight again," Penn said on a media conference call this month. "Better than staying at home sitting on the couch. I realized I can’t do this forever and I might as well make the most of it."

Penn, who turns 34 next week, is one of only two men to hold UFC championships in multiple weight divisions.

However, he’s just 1-3-1 in his past five fights and only 1-4-1 in UFC fights at 170 pounds since returning to the organization in 2006.

There’s no doubt Penn will one day be in the UFC Hall of Fame, but he’s no longer considered one of the pound-for-pound greats — a notion that also played a role in his return to the cage.

"I texted (UFC President) Dana (White) a couple months ago and I told Dana I watch all these interviews and all these people talking and no one says my name when they talk about the greatest fighters anymore and I really don’t like that. It really bothers me," Penn said.

"I know it’s my fault. I know I’m the reason why people don’t talk about me when they talk about (Georges St-Pierre) or Anderson Silva. My name was always in the mix. It’s never in the mix anymore and I told Dana I have a real problem with that. That was a big part of my motivation to come back."

Penn’s career record of 16-8-2 doesn’t jump off the page without understanding what’s made him so great.

Seven of his past 13 bouts are against current or former UFC champions, and all 13 have come against fighters who have competed in a title fight.

In an era in which fighters are reluctant to fight in higher weight classes, Penn has fought from lightweight (155 pounds) all the way up to light heavyweight (205).

MacDonald (13-1) stands up to the caliber of fighter Penn notoriously challenges.

His only loss in the UFC is to Carlos Condit, who fought for the welterweight title last month and went the distance with St-Pierre. He’s 4-1 overall in the UFC and his only decision victory came against Diaz, who is fighting in the main event against Henderson.

"There’s a lot of hype behind him," White said Thursday about MacDonald. "This is a big fight for Rory. The one thing that you always know about B.J. Penn (is) you’re not going in there running over B.J."

MacDonald, who trains at the same Tristar Gym as St-Pierre, said he doesn’t understand why Penn chose him as the guy to make his comeback against.

"I think (Penn) picked the wrong fight to make himself look good," MacDonald said via phone last Friday. "I think maybe he jumped the gun.

"Whatever his motivation is, it wasn’t a smart choice and I think he’s going to fail miserably trying to achieve that fighting me."

Penn’s fight will be second on the televised card and is expected to happen some time around 3:30.

After that, it’s anybody’s guess when — or even if — Penn will fight again.

"I’ve got no plans after December 8th," Penn said. "My whole life is just into that.

"I won’t be able to do this for the rest of my life and I want to give it a good shot with this fight coming up."