B.J. Penn -- who faces UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in the main event of UFC 118 Saturday night in Boston -- is one of the best, if not the best, 155-pounder in the history of mixed martial arts. That fact is fairly widely known.

What most people don't know about "The Prodigy" is that he got into the fight game thanks to a pair of larger-than-life stars whose fighting was more of the staged variety.

"I really don't know what pushed me (into fighting), but I remember my parents always saying that I'd sit at the edge of the bed and when 'Rocky' would be playing, I'd be right there with (Sylvester Stallone) dodging the punches," Penn said during an appearance on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “It’s Time” show Tuesday. "Hulk Hogan played a huge part in my life. I was always a fan of the WWF and the fighting. I remember I got into a few fights as a young kid and I had a fight with a kid when I was in the sixth or seventh grade. I ended up running behind the gym and throwing up. That made me feel funny and ever since then, I've just been fighting."

The 31-year-old Penn does know why he's stayed in MMA, though.

"I think everything else is boring," said Penn. "That's why I'm stuck here doing this stuff. Everything else, it just bores me. Not everything, but most everything, bores me."