It’s a new year and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is gearing up for its first event of 2017. The card will take place from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona on Jan. 15. Former t…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BZIC635XVs
It’s a new year and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is gearing up for its first event of 2017. The card will take place from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona on Jan. 15. Former two-division UFC champion B.J. Penn will come out of retirement to face surging featherweight Yair Rodriguez.
The card will also see lightweight veteran Joe Lauzon do battle with former Bellator competitor Marcin Held. Welterweights Court McGee and Ben Saunders will also share the Octagon. Rising bantamweights Jimmie Rivera and Bryan Caraway are expected to open up the main card.
Free fights are starting to roll out in anticipation of the event. This time, the UFC turns back the clock with an August 2009 title bout. Then champion Penn defended his title for the second time against Kenny Florian in the UFC 101 headliner.
“The Prodigy” was coming off a disappointing TKO loss to George St. Pierre in a super fight for the welterweight championship. Penn quit on his stool with four lopsided rounds in the books and decided to stay at 155 pounds to defend his title. His opponent was “KenFlo.”
Florian earned his title opportunity by going on a six-fight winning streak. He finished five of his opponents in that stretch, with four of those stoppages coming by submission. “KenFlo” had a knack for locking in a rear-naked choke on his foes.
Fans were excited to see what Florian had to offer and how Penn would respond to being dominated less than seven months prior. “The Prodigy” showed the world why he was still one of the best fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA).
The challenger was outmatched on the feet and his takedown attempts went nowhere. Instead, it was the champion who took the fight to the ground. Penn locked in a rear-naked choke in the fourth round to force the tap and he retained his championship.
Tito Ortiz has enlisted the help of a fellow former UFC champion as he prepares to make his final appearance inside the cage at Bellator 170.
Ortiz posted a photo following a recent tra…
Tito Ortiz has enlisted the help of a fellow former UFC champion as he prepares to make his final appearance inside the cage at Bellator 170.
Ortiz posted a photo following a recent training session that includes BJ Penn. Penn is returning in 2017 to meet Yair Rodriguez.
For Ortiz, January will mark what he is calling his retirement fight, as he takes on Chael Sonnen from Los Angeles in the main event. The bout airs live on Spike.
On Thursday, UFC released the above video trailer for their upcoming return event in Phoeniz, Arizona.
Headlined by the return of MMA legend and UFC Hall Of Famer BJ Penn against tough contender Yair Rodriguez and featuring Joe Lauzon vs. Marcin Held and Court McGee vs. Ben Saunders, UFC Fight Night 103 takes place live from the Talking Stick Resort arena in Phoenix, Arizona on January 15, 2017.
Featured above is the new UFN 103 trailer via the UFC’s official Twitter page.
Join us here at MMANews.com on 1/15 for a recap of the UFC Fight Night 103 event.
Legendary former UFC lightweight and former UFC welterweight champion BJ “The Prodigy” Penn is set to make his return to action against rising prospect Yair Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night Phoenix on Jan. 15, 2015. Penn hasn’t competed since retiring in 2014 and he hasn’t won a fight since 2010. Initially, many had felt as
Legendary former UFC lightweight and former UFC welterweight champion BJ “The Prodigy” Penn is set to make his return to action against rising prospect Yair Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night Phoenix on Jan. 15, 2015. Penn hasn’t competed since retiring in 2014 and he hasn’t won a fight since 2010.
Initially, many had felt as if Penn should’ve been booked against a fighter in a similar situation him as opposed to a 24-year-old surging contender, but “The Prodigy” doesn’t feel as if the bout is ‘difficult at all’:
“So, what you’re saying is when I make this look easy on Jan. 15, I’m the f—— man, is that what you’re telling me?” said Penn, on ESPN’s 5ive Rounds podcast.
“It’s not a difficult [fight] at all. He’s a very good guy, but I feel like I’m training with very good guys. I have a good team around me and I don’t feel anything is anywhere near out of my league.”
Penn will be competing in the 145-pound division upon his return and he said that this decision was made based off of the fact the he has his eyes set on a third world title in a third different weight class:
“There’s more opportunity for me to get three UFC belts at 145 than going to 185,” Penn said. “I already feel really confident nobody will be able to get the 155- and 170-pound belts. I want to get one more world title. Three titles at three weight classes, and without a doubt 145 is my best option.”
In order to accomplish this goal, Penn has relocated from his native Hawaii to New Mexico to train under the tutelage of highly-touted trainer Greg Jackson. Aside from his plan to add another title to his trophy case, Penn said that he’s returning simply because he ‘missed’ fighting:
“I just like fighting again,” Penn said. “Standing in front of people, sparring every day, punching people, getting into a fist fight every morning. I missed it. I can’t live without it right now. While I can still lift my arms up and do sprints, all these things, this is what I want to do. This is what I love to do. This is the best way I know how to make an honest living.”
What are you expecting from “The Prodigy” next month?
Earlier this week, B.J. Penn’s long-delayed comeback got another restart date when it was announced he would fight Yair Rodriguez in January. It is now the third try at getting him back into the Octagon after two previous starts were scrapped, sp…
Earlier this week, B.J. Penn’s long-delayed comeback got another restart date when it was announced he would fight Yair Rodriguez in January. It is now the third try at getting him back into the Octagon after two previous starts were scrapped, spanning the entirety of 2016.
While the announcement inspired the excitement of those who favor known names as well as those who trade on nostalgia, it also drew groans from the realists who closely watched the latter parts of Penn’s career and saw the former UFC two-division champion suffer through lopsided beatings in each of his last three fights.
If the feeling of watching him get dominated by both Frankie Edgar and Rory MacDonald was uncomfortable, it’s jarring to realize that he hasn’t won a fight in six years.
If a 33-year-old Penn couldn’t win in the cage, why shouldn’t we be downright uneasy about him stepping into the cage as a 38-year-old?
It would be one thing if he faced another aging featherweight, but Rodriguez is a 24-year-old on the come up, a flashy kid who has yet to lose in the UFC Octagon and who is probably licking his chops at the chance of adding a legend’s scalp to his collection.
The odds are he will, and in an uncomfortable way.
The Penn announcement offered a sense of deja vu, as over in Bellator, just a few days prior, the organization announced it had signed former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko to a multi-fight deal, and that he would debut against Matt Mitrione on Feb. 18.
On paper, it’s a different situation, as Emelianenko comes into the bout on a five-fight unbeaten streak, but even that comes with a caveat. In his last bout, Emelianenko looked liked a washed-up fighter against journeyman brawler Fabio Maldonado and was nearly knocked out before escaping with a decision, though on appeal, that was overturned to a no-contest.
There are other cases, too.
Thirty-seven-year-old former UFC champion Rashad Evans has been declined a fighter’s license by commissions in both New York and Ontario yet, despite that and two straight lopsided losses, intends to continue his career.
Meanwhile, 41-year-old former UFC interim heavyweight champ Shane Carwin recently announced he would end a retirement of over five years to compete in Japan’s Rizin Fighting Federation. He hasn’t won a fight since knocking out Frank Mir in early 2010.
Even the great Anderson Silva has entered this category of awkward unease.
While the libertarian in me believes that everyone has the right to determine their own future, the humanitarian cannot ignore the elevated risks these fight legends are taking by continuing to compete long after their bodies (and probably their brains) have been compromised.
As we learn more about brain injuries and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), it becomes impossible to put aside the increased probability of damage that athletes face as they age in an unforgiving sport.
Most fans and fighters come to terms with the risks these athletes are facing early on in the process of falling in love with the sport. It’s easy to ignore the dangers when they’re not so obvious, and it’s also easy to rationalize that many pursuits include the acceptance of danger. Rock climbing, bike riding, scuba diving all bring with them inherent danger. Many jobs also bring risks. Roofing, construction, emergency response. Hell, even if you sit at a desk eight hours a day, you face health issues, from muscle degeneration to organ damage to back problems.
No matter what we’re doing, we risk hurting our bodies. But there comes a time to minimize that risk, and for most of these fighters, that time has not just come; it’s already passed.
For older fighters, there are few protections in place past their support staffs, who often plead for them to hang up their gloves to no avail.
Inside the cage, opponents are unforgiving with their own careers at stake. Beyond that, it is both ironic and unsettling that referees often give more leeway to these legends out of respect to their longevity, success and experience. After all, it stands to reason that if they’ve thrived so long, they may have one last trick up their sleeve. In reality, it often leads to longer beatings.
And fans? We often cheer on their arrivals and cringe at their exits.
To be sure, this is an issue on which we have little moral high ground. We not only praise the same fighting spirit in the same young athletes; we practically demand it.
But often, when observers go from fanatical to apprehensive, they are seen as turncoats. Such criticism is misguided. Voicing concern is hardly anti-fighter; it is, in fact, the apex of fandom to put the athlete’s interests above your own.
So count me as a conscientious objector to the past-their-prime crowd of legends. Fighters have the difficult task of timing their own endings while we judge every step. Our opinion is the easy one. We get to be right or wrong with no repercussions, while they live with the decision, the doubt and the injuries forever.
BJ Penn’s (16-10-2) return to action in the UFC has a new date and a new opponent.
Penn is scheduled to fight in the main event against Yair Rodriguez (9-1) in Phoenix on January 15 at a yet-to-be-numbered UFC Fight Night. The UFC made the announ…
BJ Penn’s (16-10-2) return to action in the UFC has a new date and a new opponent.
Penn is scheduled to fight in the main event against Yair Rodriguez (9-1) in Phoenix on January 15 at a yet-to-be-numbered UFC Fight Night. The UFC made the announcement via Twitter on Monday.
2016 was a tumultuous year for Penn. He had several dates lined up for his return, but one thing or another kept that from happening. Penn had been accused of sexual assault, but there was insufficient evidence for prosecutors to move forward with the case, per TMZ. He looked to be ready to return against Ricardo Lamas in the Philippines, but an injury forced him off the card, resulting the in total cancellation of the event, as reported by Ken Pishna of MMAWeekly.com.
The UFC Hall of Famer gets no easy opponent in his return.
Rodriguez is one of the hottest up-and-coming fighters in the UFC and is on a six-fight win streak.
Penn has not won a fight since his 2010 dismantling of Matt Hughes at UFC 123. Since then he has gone 0-3-1.
The January main event marks the second bout for Penn at featherweight. His 145-pound debut came against Frankie Edgar, where Penn looked pitiful. Edgar battered Penn for more than two rounds before the contest was stopped in the third round.
January’s fight with Rodriguez will be a chance for Penn to prove his critics wrong. Penn made the change to Jackson-Wink MMA in early 2016 to train alongside the likes of Jon Jones, Donald Cerrone and a host of other elite fighters, per Mike Bohn of MMAjunkie.
A win for Rodriguez would undoubtedly be the biggest of his career and launch him into being a contender as 2017 gets underway.
It’s a captivating bit of matchmaking with both men having a lot to prove, and it goes down in two months in Phoenix.
