It’s never easy to see a legend like B.J. Penn bid farewell to his craft so abruptly, but watching him suffer another bludgeoning like he did at the hands of Nick Diaz at UFC 137 would have been even worse.
His face swollen, bruised and bloodied from three rounds enduring Diaz’s fists of fury, “The Prodigy” announced to the attendant crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas that he was calling it quits, saying that mixed martial arts had clearly passed him by and that he did not want to subject his children, one growing up and another on the way, to the horror of seeing their father suffer disfigurement and embarrassment in the Octagon.
For that, Penn deserves a particularly deferential tip of the hat. Too often in the world of professional sports do the very best athletes hang on too long, even after it’s become abundantly clear that they can no longer compete at anywhere near the level that made them mythical figures.
That same air of invincibility, that same unflappable confidence that drives the likes of Brett Favre and Tito Ortiz to reach the pinnacle of competition is the very same thing that leaves them hanging on for too long.
Of course, the imminent danger that Penn would have faced had he decided to press on was far greater than anything a top-flight athlete in a team sport would face, as dangerous as football and hockey may be. Only in combat sports like mixed martial arts is physical harm not only assured, but required.
And make no mistake about it, Penn is, or rather was, one of the greatest and most accomplished athletes to ever step into the Octagon. He is one of only two mixed martial artists in the history of the UFC to ever earn championships in more than one weight class, following Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture in that regard.
As such, Penn will be missed, both for his tremendous skill as a fighter and his consummate professionalism.
Could he have recovered from this defeat and risen back through the ranks of the UFC? Perhaps.
That same desire to be great that lifted Penn to the top of MMA could just as easily have propelled him back into the training room, back into the gym, to heal his body and hone his craft even further.
But, then again, there’s little doubt that he saw what happened to Ortiz, the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” against Rashad Evans at UFC 133. Chances are, in that moment after the loss to Diaz, Penn realized that he didn’t want to bow out after winning only one of his last seven fights.
Even if Penn hadn’t been beaten so soundly or even if he’d emerged victorious from Sin City on Saturday, his decision to leave the UFC for good would have been just as respectable. In a rare display of humility and mortal wisdom among superstar athletes, B.J. Penn put his well-being and that of his family before personal glory.
And for that, MMA fans everywhere should bid Penn a fond farewell.
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