(Photo via Getty)
The TUF 19 Finale headlined by BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar is now officially a candidate for saddest card of all time–not because of the entertainment value of the card, but because of what happened in the main event.
BJ Penn looked…old. He looked old, slow, and generally terrible. He came out with this bizarre, vertical stance reminiscent of a pose a non-fight fan would do if they were parodying a boxer. It looked really strange. Nor did it suit Penn’s style. His footwork couldn’t keep up with Edgar, nor could his hands. Edgar tagged Penn at will, and even managed to take the Hawaiian down at will. This was doubly depressing because Penn’s takedown defense used to be legendary. Eventually, Edgar landed a prolonged flurry of ground and pound in the third frame, prompting a stoppage.
BJ Penn didn’t fight like BJ Penn, and he admitted to it after the fight. He (rightly) stated he didn’t belong in the cage, and hinted he was going to retire.
But there were other important fights on the card–namely the TUF 19 finals.
In the middleweight final, Eddie Gordon ran through Dhiego Lima. To say he blitzed him would be an understatement. Gordon ran across the cage and started just bashing the shit out of Lima, who folded against the constant pressure. That’s honestly as technical as we can get. The fight was a pure beatdown, plain and simple.
We didn’t think a mugging like that could get more ferocious and violent…but then we watched Corey Anderson vs. Matt Van Buren. Anderson lived up to his ridiculous “Beastin’ 25/8″ nickname and beasted through Van Buren more dramatically than Gordon destroyed Lima!
Overall, it was a pretty entertaining night–a shame it had to end in such a disappointing yet entirely predictable way.
Here are the night’s complete results:
Main Card:
Frankie Edgar def. B.J. Penn via TKO (R3: 4:16)
Corey Anderson def. Matt Van Buren via TKO (R1: 1:01)
Eddie Gordon def. Dhiego Lima via TKO (R1: 1:11)
Derrick Lewis def. Guto Inocente via TKO (R1: 3:30)
Dustin Ortiz def. Justin Scoggins via split decision (29-28 28-29, 29-28)
Preliminary Card:
Kevin Lee def. Jesse Ronson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Leandro Issa def. Jumabieke Tuerxun via submission (armbar) (R3, 3:49)
Adriano Martins def. Juan Manuel Puig via first-round KO (2:20)
Patrick Walsh def. Daniel Spohn via unanimous decision 29-28 X3
Sarah Moras def. Alexis Dufresne via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Robert Drysdale def. Keith Berish via submission (rear-naked choke) (R1, 2:03)