Eventually, BJ Penn wants to take care of championship business again.

For now, he wants to take care of his Web site business.

Ever since his resounding victory over Jens Pulver last Saturday at The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale at Las Vegas, Penn's Web site — www.bjpenn.com — has been receiving thousands of visitors every day.

"I wanted to get as much exposure for the site as I could, and I guess it worked," said Penn, who returned to his home in Hilo on Sunday.

It helped that Penn was as calculating after the fight as he was during it.

Penn's victory over Pulver was televised nationally on Spike TV, and moments after the bout, Penn's only comment in the post-fight interview was: "If you want to know what BJ Penn feels like, check out www.bjpenn.com."

"We talked before the fight about maybe doing something like that to get people to go to the site," Penn said.

They did.

Penn said the site received more than 600,000 hits within an hour of his statement, causing it to crash. The site stayed down for nearly a full day, and Penn was not able to post a statement until Monday morning.

"Oh man, that was just as stressful as the fight when I heard the site went down," he said. "I wish more people could have got the message right away, but at least it's up now."

Penn's video message thanking his fans received more than 36,000 "unique" hits in its first two days on www.bjpenn.com.

"When I'm not training, that's what I do — work on the Web site," he said. "This is a business, too, so I want to make sure it's a site that will make the people, the fans, keep coming back."

Penn is already regarded as one of the world's best mixed martial arts competitors, and his victory over Pulver proved it. Penn dominated the bout from start to finish — it ended 3 minutes, 12 seconds, into the second round when Penn forced Pulver to submit to a rear-naked choke hold.

After watching a replay of the bout, Penn said: "I knew I was ready. I knew I was in great shape and felt strong. I'm just happy it turned out well."

Several MMA articles have described Penn's performance as "a jiu-jitsu clinic," as he was able to control Pulver seemingly at will. For the record, Penn said he did not intentionally let go of some of his submission attempts early in the bout just so he could keep punishing Pulver.

"I rushed some things, like the armbar, in the beginning," Penn said. "He got out of it and defended well. But once we got to the second round I said that's it, just finish this guy already."

Penn and Pulver have been admitted bitter rivals ever since Pulver upset Penn in 2002. But after Saturday's bout, Pulver congratulated Penn and asked if he could someday train in Hilo.

"I have no problem if he wants to come down and train now," Penn said. "It was a long five years waiting for that fight, but now that I got revenge, it's over. We can put it behind us, and if he wants my help, I'll help."

Penn and officials from the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization must now negotiate his next bout. Penn said he'll accept a bout at either lightweight (155 pounds) or welterweight (170). The bout against Pulver was in the lightweight division.

In the lightweight division, world champion Sean Sherk is scheduled to defend his title against Hermes Franca next week.

"The (championship) belt is always a nice option," Penn said.

But there are more "name" opponents available in the welterweight division, including current champ Matt Serra and former champs Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre. Hughes and St. Pierre are the last two fighters to defeat Penn.

"There's good options at both weights," Penn said. "We just have to sit down and see what works out best."

Penn was the UFC welterweight champion in 2004, but was stripped of the title after a contract dispute.

Ideally, Penn said he would like to fight again in November or December. Until then, his gym in Hilo — and his Web site — will keep him busy.

"I still coach a bunch of guys in Hilo and some of them have fights coming up," he said. "And of course, I want to keep training and stay in shape myself — just keep getting better."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.