Former UFC champ BJ Penn will return to action this Saturday (January 15, 2017) after a two-and-a-half year retirement. Penn will take on Yair Rodriguez, a rising prospect in the featherweight division, in the headliner of UFC Fight Night 103 from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.
Unfortunately, many mixed martial arts fans and pundits are pessimistic about Penn’s return. BJ is unquestionably an all-time great, perhaps the best lightweight ever. But the Hawaiian hasn’t won a fight since a first-round knockout of Matt Hughes in November 2010. Below are several reasons most in the MMA community wishes that Penn had stayed retired.
1. Combination Of Age And Inactivity
As already mentioned, Penn hasn’t competed in two-and-a-half years, and the MMA great has exactly one fight in the last fours years. He doesn’t have a victory in the last six. And he is 38 years old, not exactly a spring chicken, particularly in the unforgiving lighter weight classes.
Part of what made Penn so successful was that he was well ahead of his time. He paired solid boxing skill with a lethal and all-time great jiu-jitsu game. He was so much more talented in his prime than the majority of contemporaries, meaning he could compete above his natural weight class and still have success.
Penn was able to win the welterweight title before men like Georges St. Pierre and Rory MacDonald came along. And he ruled the lightweight division before the likes of Benson Henderson, Rafael dos Anjos, and Conor McGregor. At this point, Penn is far from his physical prime while the elite in every division are more talented and more athletic than anyone Penn faced in his heyday.
Penn is returning to try to make a run at featherweight, going after a belt in a third division. While that would be an unprecedented achievement, he is undergoing a more arduous cut and at an advanced age. That is not exactly a recipe for success. And the last time we saw Penn at that weight, it did not go well.
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