There will be more world championship bouts for Hilo's BJ Penn.

Whether or not another one with Georges St-Pierre is in the future remains to be seen.

In his first public appearance since losing to St-Pierre in the main event of UFC 94 in Las Vegas on Jan. 31, Penn addressed hundreds of his fans at a "Welcome Home BJ Penn" rally yesterday at the Ala Moana Center Centerstage.

"Of course, I was sad after that loss and a lot of things were going through my head," he said. "But I woke up one day and said, 'You know what? I'm still the lightweight champ. Let's keep fighting.' "

The bout with Canada's St-Pierre was for the UFC welterweight (170 pounds) world championship. Penn's lightweight (155) world title was not on the line.

Penn said his camp is currently negotiating with UFC officials for a lightweight title bout against No. 1 contender Kenny Florian of Boston.

"That will probably be this summer, so that's my focus now," Penn said.

But there are still unfinished matters from the St-Pierre fight. Most notable, there is what has become known as "Greasegate."

The Nevada State Athletic Commission is still reviewing the illegal application of Vaseline by a cornerman on St-Pierre's chest, shoulders and back in between the first and second rounds of the bout. St-Pierre went on to win via TKO after the fourth round.

"The most important thing is that we told the commission to watch out for that before the fight, and then they caught him doing it and they didn't tell us until after the fight," Penn said. "I just wish they would have told us when it happened. It's all hindsight now, but maybe they could have taken him to the back and cleaned him off or something."

Because of the controversy, Penn said he'd like to get another shot at St-Pierre's welterweight belt. St-Pierre is scheduled to face Brazilian Thiago Alves this summer.

"After I defend my belt and he defends his belt, I'd love to do it again," Penn said. "Mostly because of the controversy. I just want it to be clean — no questions, no controversy."

But Penn also admits that he took a beating at UFC 94. He said he can't even recall what happened in the third and fourth rounds.

"I was probably borderline knocked out or something," he said. "I just got beat up, that much I know."

Penn received $125,000 for the bout, according to the Nevada commission (St-Pierre received $400,000).

"That's how it is in our business, so I'm OK with it," he said. "But I guess no matter what job you do, you always want to get paid more."

Penn said he could not comment on potential additional income he could earn through pay-per-view sales of UFC 94. The event was projected to make close to $60 million in pay-per-view sales.

"Our contracts are confidential," he said.

Still, Penn said being part of the frenzy surrounding UFC 94 was "amazing."

"To see how big it was for everybody, and to have so much support, I feel so grateful," he said.