When BJ Pennannounced his retirement last night after getting smashed by Frankie Edgar at the TUF 19 Finale, it signaled the end of an era; yet another UFC legend from the last decade had finally accepted that he couldn’t hack it anymore. But while Penn got to make his final statement on national television to the cheers of an adoring Las Vegas crowd, one of the Prodigy’s greatest rivals made a much quieter exit from the sport.
In an interview with Karyn Bryant published yesterday, Jens Pulver — the UFC’s first-ever 155-pound champion — announced that he was officially retired. Pulver was in town for the UFC Fan Expo, working the FightMatch booth, and had this to say about his competitive status:
“I (competed at) 135 for a bit, and I hear everybody saying ‘time to retire’, this and that, and I refused to announce it or say it, but I think I’ve said it like three times today — I’m done. I mean, I’m done. And I think most people are like, ‘Well, you were done like five years ago’.”
It’s the kind of self-deprecating line that we’ve come to expect from the always humble Pulver, but there’s some sad truth to it. Pulver’s career peak came way back in 2001-2002, when he won the UFC’s inaugural “bantamweight” title with a decision win over Caol Uno at UFC 30, then defended it twice against Dennis Hallman and BJ Penn. Since then, his career has been in a long, steady decline, punctuated by just enough bright moments to keep him going.
When BJ Pennannounced his retirement last night after getting smashed by Frankie Edgar at the TUF 19 Finale, it signaled the end of an era; yet another UFC legend from the last decade had finally accepted that he couldn’t hack it anymore. But while Penn got to make his final statement on national television to the cheers of an adoring Las Vegas crowd, one of the Prodigy’s greatest rivals made a much quieter exit from the sport.
In an interview with Karyn Bryant published yesterday, Jens Pulver — the UFC’s first-ever 155-pound champion — announced that he was officially retired. Pulver was in town for the UFC Fan Expo, working the FightMatch booth, and had this to say about his competitive status:
“I (competed at) 135 for a bit, and I hear everybody saying ‘time to retire’, this and that, and I refused to announce it or say it, but I think I’ve said it like three times today — I’m done. I mean, I’m done. And I think most people are like, ‘Well, you were done like five years ago’.”
It’s the kind of self-deprecating line that we’ve come to expect from the always humble Pulver, but there’s some sad truth to it. Pulver’s career peak came way back in 2001-2002, when he won the UFC’s inaugural “bantamweight” title with a decision win over Caol Uno at UFC 30, then defended it twice against Dennis Hallman and BJ Penn. Since then, his career has been in a long, steady decline, punctuated by just enough bright moments to keep him going.
After leaving the UFC after the first Penn fight due to a contract dispute, Pulver bounced around various promotions for a while, and ran up a 2-2 record competing in PRIDE. He returned to the UFC in 2006, where he suffered a shocking knockout loss against an unheralded youngster named Joe Lauzon, and was choked out by BJ Penn in their rematch at the TUF 5 Finale.
Pulver dropped to 145 pounds to join the WEC’s featherweight division in 2007, and submitted Cub Swanson in just 35 seconds during his promotional debut. It seemed that a change in weight class was the perfect remedy to rescue Pulver’s career. Unfortunately, Lil’ Evil would go on to lose his next five fights in the promotion, taking bad beatings against the likes of Urijah Faber (twice), Leonard Garcia, and Josh Grispi.
Following his WEC stint, Pulver went nomad again, showing up in XFO, Titan FC, RFA, and ONE FC. He dropped to bantamweight, and then to flyweight, steadily alternating between wins and losses. In 2013, Pulver suffered back-to-back losses against Masakatsu Ueda (in ONE FC) and Sami Aziz (in Superior Challenge). Pulver has kept busy since his last defeat, training fighters and working a commentary gig for Cage Warriors — but he hasn’t competed since last November, and doesn’t plan on strapping on the gloves again.
As Neil Young sang, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” In MMA terms, I guess that means it’s better to retire after a high-profile ass kicking on cable TV (like Penn) than sort of float around the fringes of the sport for a while and reveal your retirement on a YouTube video eight months after your last loss, when most fans have already stopped wondering when your next fight will be (like Pulver).
The end of the road is never a fun place to be. Then again, look at Pulver’s smile while he talks to Bryant — the smile that’s always been his greatest physical trademark. Jens Pulver is in a good place. He’s got things to look forward to. He’s comfortable with the fact that his time is up, and can even say those words out loud now. It was never an easy journey for him, but he survived it. You’d be smiling too.
A third fight between Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn never made much sense.
Less and less so every second they actually spent together in the cage.
Edgar was declared the winner on Sunday after three miserable rounds of lopsided action, but even he didn&rsq…
A third fight between Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn never made much sense.
Less and less so every second they actually spent together in the cage.
Edgar was declared the winner on Sunday after three miserable rounds of lopsided action, but even he didn’t feel much like celebrating. He’d battered and humiliated fan favorite Penn en route to a TKO in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 19 live finale, and he understood it brought a melancholy end to a weekend of UFC events on back-to-back nights.
“It’s a bittersweet victory,” Edgar told play-by-play announcer Jon Anik after it was finally over. “I said I wanted to finish him because he’s never been finished and (because of) how tough he was, but I almost feel bad about it.”
Edgar was already 2-0 against Penn, having defeated him in a pair of lightweight title fights during 2010. Leading up to this bout Penn had been idle, all but retired for the last 19 months, on the heels of consecutive welterweight losses to Nick Diaz and Rory MacDonald.
Yet earlier this year the 35-year-old former multidivisional champion asked for another chance at Edgar, this time at 145 pounds, and when UFC President Dana White obliged him, there wasn’t much outcry. It was an unorthodox booking, but because of his legendary status and lengthy resume as an elite fighter at 170 and 155 pounds, people were curious to see what Penn could bring to the featherweight division.
He’s always been that kind of character, after all, continually doing the impossible.
Penn is the guy who beat Matt Hughes for the welterweight title in 2004 and gave a fledgling Georges St-Pierre all he could handle in 2006. The guy who was stripped of the UFC title over a contract dispute and fought in Japan and Hawaii without much care for his weight class, including facing a 225-pound Lyoto Machida in a catchweight bout. The guy who ruled lightweight with an iron fist from 2007 to 2010.
Unfortunately, that guy was nowhere to be found on Sunday, and White reportedly walked out before the fight was over.
Once it was, Penn re-retired on the spot.
“I shouldn’t have come back,” he said to the adoring crowd at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. “I shouldn’t have been in the ring tonight to compete with a top-level (guy) like Frankie Edgar.”
Penn looked uncomfortable with his decision to return from the opening bell.
He came out of his corner standing straight up and down, shuffling listlessly on the balls of his feet. His previous career was typified by his ferocious, heavy-handed striking, but on this night he seemed tentative, throwing mostly ineffectual single counter strikes against Edgar’s high-octane combinations.
It almost appeared as if Penn wanted Edgar to take him down, but once the fight hit the mat, he had little to offer from his back, either.
Edgar was simply too fast, too well-rounded and too motivated. For perhaps the first time in his career, Penn seemed to shrink from the moment. In the third stanza, Edgar tossed him to the ground with a foot sweep and opened a cut over his left eye with a series of elbows. He continued to pour on punches and elbow strikes until referee Herb Dean stepped in to call it off with 44 seconds left in the round.
And then we sighed. With relief. With sadness.
At some point in there, it had dawned on everyone that this fight had been a very bad idea. In fact, it’s hard to remember another bout where the regret was so immediate or pervasive. This was not just a mismatch that caused fans and analysts to cringe. In retrospect, even Edgar and Penn seemed to realize, too late, that this was a fight that didn’t need to happen.
Maybe one of the reasons it seemed so shocking was we’d partly forgotten exactly how good Edgar can be. He’d also been out of action exactly one year, and in the interim, perhaps we allowed ourselves to disregard his elusiveness, smooth transitions from striking to grappling and ability to launch multipunch combos and then glide out of range before his opponent can return fire.
All of that was on display this weekend and it made a sad end for Penn—especially the foot sweep, which reduced the bout to an ugly incident of playground bullying by the time Edgar used it to put him down the last time.
A true pioneer of the sport, Penn was emotional at the post-fight press conference when asked about his legacy, setting down his microphone and resting his head on his arms.
White filled in the blanks for him, saying Penn would go down as one of the greatest lightweight fighters of all time and a guy who helped build the UFC. The gathered media applauded the suggestion, and this time nobody complained about a lapse in journalistic integrity.
It may have been a bad idea to put this bout together, but even in the bitter end Penn said it was a fight he needed. He had to prove to himself he no longer belonged in the cage with the world’s best fighters so he could retire with no regrets and no unanswered questions. Certainly, after the 13 years he’d given to this sport, we owed him that much.
For his part, White said he didn’t regret putting Penn and Edgar together for a third fight, regardless of the outcome. The UFC boss said he’d sit down with Penn and his family to talk about the future but clearly indicated that he won’t fight in the Octagon again.
We here at CagePotato.com aren’t the types to say “We told you so,” which is convenient, because we couldn’t even gather enough interest in BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar III to mock it beforehand. The fight ended predictably; Penn continued to be no match for Edgar, and “The Prodigy” hinted at yet another retirement from MMA after it was over. Given the trilogy’s one-sided nature and predictable ending, we’re tempted to call it the most pointless trilogy in our sport’s history. But doing so would do the following trilogies a grave injustice:
Bryan Robinson vs. Andrew Reinard
Third Fight: Tuesday Night Fights, 01/24/2002. Scoreboard: Robinson, 3-0.
A quick glance at the record of every ironman in MMA will reveal multiple victories over fighters who can best be described as “victims” and “warm bodies.” Reinard is Exhibit A: You can watch his entire three-fight career in only forty-eight seconds.
[Author Note: Robinson vs. Reinard is a stand-in for every pointless trilogy that other MMA ironmen have been involved in. Coincidentally, Robinson himself accounts for seven (?!?) of Travis Fulton’s career victories.]
(Okay, but can he beat a motivated, featherweight Penn? Photo Courtesy of Getty Images.)
We here at CagePotato.com aren’t the types to say “We told you so,” which is convenient, because we couldn’t even gather enough interest in BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar III to mock it beforehand. The fight ended predictably; Penn continued to be no match for Edgar, and “The Prodigy” hinted at yet another retirement from MMA after it was over. Given the trilogy’s one-sided nature and predictable ending, we’re tempted to call it the most pointless trilogy in our sport’s history. But doing so would do the following trilogies a grave injustice:
Bryan Robinson vs. Andrew Reinard
Third Fight: Tuesday Night Fights, 01/24/2002. Scoreboard: Robinson, 3-0.
A quick glance at the record of every ironman in MMA will reveal multiple victories over fighters who can best be described as “victims” and “warm bodies.” Reinard is Exhibit A: You can watch his entire three-fight career in only forty-eight seconds.
[Author Note: Robinson vs. Reinard is a stand-in for every pointless trilogy that other MMA ironmen have been involved in. Coincidentally, Robinson himself accounts for seven (?!?) of Travis Fulton’s career victories.]
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Wanderlei Silva
Third Fight: Pride: Total Elimination 2003, 08/10/2003. Scoreboard: Silva, 3-0.
Move along. We don’t need to re-open this wound.
Jeremy Horn vs. Chael Sonnen
Third Fight: UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie, 05/27/2006. Scoreboard: Horn, 3-0.
Three fights. Two submissions. Zero interest. It’s hard to believe that the UFC once had such humble plans for Chael Sonnen.
Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz
Third Fight: UFC: The Final Chapter, 10/10/2006. Scoreboard: Ortiz, 3-0.
A trilogy that saw a slightly disinterested relic from a bygone era get mercilessly picked apart by a hungrier fighter in his prime. In other words, it was the Penn vs. Edgar of its era.
Olaf Alfonso vs. John Polakowski
Third Fight: WEC 24, 10/12/2006. Scoreboard: Polakowski, 2-1.
These two guys easily engaged in the most competitive, entertaining trilogy that made this list. If Polakowski didn’t waste the first three years of his career fighting Alfonso, he may be known to MMA fans for more than this.
Depending on how you view TUF exhibitions, Diaz vs. Maynard may simply be a “pointlessly marketed as a trilogy” rematch. That the UFC wanted us to view their fight at The TUF 18 Finale as a trilogy made it eligible for this list. The “TUF exhibition + Unwatchable ‘second’ fight” formula sealed its fate as an inclusion.
Did we omit an especially pointless grudge match? Are you dying to make the case for Sylvia vs. Arlovski, even though it was technically a quadrilogy? Leave your thoughts in the comments section, or hit us up at our official Twitter account.
Following a third-round TKO loss at the hands of Frankie Edgar Sunday night, BJ Penn decided to put an end to his UFC career.
The 35-year-old legend announced the news inside the Octagon following The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale, and Fox Sports’ Mike Ch…
Following a third-round TKO loss at the hands of Frankie Edgar Sunday night, BJ Penn decided to put an end to his UFC career.
The 35-year-old legend announced the news inside the Octagon following The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale, and Fox Sports’ Mike Chiappetta captured a quote:
UFC president Dana White commented on the decision, via MMAFighting.com:
Penn finishes his career at 16-10-2 overall. With five losses and a draw in his last seven fights, his final record doesn’t exactly do him justice.
Extremely important for the rise of UFC’s popularity, The Prodigy first appeared in the promotion at UFC 31 over 13 years ago. During that span, he has held both the UFC welterweight and lightweight titles. He was named Sports Illustrated‘s 10th-bestMMA fighter of the 2000s and has won countless other awards.
ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto recently explained one particular reason why Penn has been so immensely popular throughout his career:
A lot of mixed martial artists are popular. Few are outright loved the way Penn is. There are several reasons for it, but if you had to pinpoint one, it’s probably that he embodies the attitude fans like to think a fighter should have.
Penn has gone out of his way to find the most impossible challenge throughout his career. He will always pick a fight with the most intimidating figure in the room.
He has been extremely versatile, fighting at several different weights before finishing his career Sunday at featherweight.
It resulted in a fairly easy win for Edgar, but, again, that does nothing to tarnish what has been a legendary, trailblazing career for Penn, who was scintillating in his prime. MMAFighting.com summed it up:
Light heavyweight contender Anthony Johnson also provided some words of praise:
As Bleacher Report added, he’s a lock for the Hall of Fame:
Penn was a pioneer for the lighter weight divisions, and it’s impossible to overstate what he has meant to the sport over the past 13 years. He has nothing left to prove and has earned the right to call it quits.
It’s a little disheartening to know that he likely won’t step inside a UFC Octagon again, but even the best careers have to come to an end at some point.
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.
But there were other important fights on the card–namely the TUF 19 finals.
(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.
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)
Trilogies are a rare thing to see in the realm of mixed martial arts.
While the “immediate rematch” has become a common sight on the current landscape of the sport, the all-important “rubber match” only occurs on a limited basis…
Trilogies are a rare thing to see in the realm of mixed martial arts.
While the “immediate rematch” has become a common sight on the current landscape of the sport, the all-important “rubber match” only occurs on a limited basis. Yet, a third fight between two fighters is typically forged when both competitors have split the two previous meetings, and a final bout is scheduled to determine which fighter will take the series.
Frankie Edgar had defeated BJ Penn both times they squared off—definitively so in their second meeting—and that is why a third fight between the two men seemed so odd. Nevertheless, despite being down two fights to nil to the Toms River, New Jersey, native, the MMA legend specifically asked the UFC for one more crack at The Answer.
The New Jersey native accepted the bout, and the course was set for one final collision at The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale in Las Vegas.
Whereas their initial two meetings took place in the 155-pound weight class, their third fight was slated for the lighter waters of the featherweight division. While Edgar already had two showings at 145 pounds under his belt, their Sunday night tilt would be the former two-divisional champion’s debut, and there were a ton of questions hovering overhead.
Would the mythical “motivated” Hawaiian show up to spark a new chapter in his career? Or would the third scrap with Edgar be The Prodigy’s curtain call?
Regardless of the uncertainty surrounding Penn’s future, the series between the two legendary lightweights was going to come to a conclusion at the Mandalay Bay. When the cage door closed, and it was all said and done, Edgar would take the clean sweep.
The former 155-pound titleholder turned featherweight contender was simply too fast for the aging veteran as he battered Penn with ground-and-pound until referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight midway through the third round. It was a virtuoso performance for Edgar and a telling sign that the end is near for the proud Hawaiian.
Let’s take a look at the good, bad and strange from The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale.
The Good
It has been a few years since Edgar held championship gold in the UFC, but The Answer is still running strong in his quest for another title opportunity. On Sunday night in Las Vegas, the Toms River native took another strong step up the featherweight ladder as he battered former two-divisional champion Penn in their trilogy bout in the main event at the TUF 19 Finale.
Edgar’s speed made the difference in their first two meetings, and that trend continued in their third bout as well. The Mark Henry-trained fighter was simply too quick for Penn to catch up with on the feet and too tenacious for the Hawaiian to handle when the action hit the canvas. Their meeting on Sunday night was the most lopsided of the series, with Edgar finishing Penn in the third frame.
While a victory over Penn won’t catapult him to the top of the ladder in the 145-pound fold, it will definitely keep his ascension up the ranks cooking. Edgar’s win over Penn marks his second victory in the featherweight division and makes him successful in two of his last three outings.
Winning the six-figure contract and a place on the UFC roster is serious business, and Eddie Gordon went after that prize with everything he had to offer. The Serra-Longo-trained fighter put a swarm of nastiness on fellow finalist Dhiego Lima to earn the first-round TKO victory and become the Season 19 middleweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter.
While Lima’s striking was supposed to be a formidable challenge, Gordon “trucked” right on through and put a drubbing on the Atlanta resident. It was an impressive showing for Gordon, as he earned one of the best finishes on the card.
That said, there were a few questionable shots that landed clean on the back of Lima’s head that referee Yves Lavigne took zero issue with. Gordon’s performance was undoubtedly solid, but those shots did some serious damage.
It will be interesting to see how the New York-based fighter will fair in the increasingly competitive 185-pound fold, but he’ll certainly roll in with solid momentum.
On the other half of The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale docket, Corey Anderson put an onslaught on Matt Van Buren to pick up the light heavyweight tournament crown. The Rockford, Illinois, native jumped on his fellow finalist from the opening bell and unleashed a flurry of shots as he battered Van Buren up against the cage. Once Beastin’ 25/8 (painful) landed the first clean shot that turned Van Buren’s legs to rubber, he put the pedal to the proverbial medal and finished the bout with force.
It was a strong showing for Anderson, who will now enter the light heavyweight mix, which is one of the most competitive divisions under the promotional banner.
***The heavyweight division may just have a new profile on the rise with Derrick Lewis. The Black Beast looked solid in his debut against Jack May back in April as he scored a first-round knockout at UFC on Fox 11, and he kept that momentum rolling when he gave GutoInocente the same treatment at The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale.
The two fighters went back and forth during the opening minutes, but after Lewis put Inocente on his back, it was the beginning of the end. The Houston representative unleashed four brutal shots to the Blackzilian and left Inocente snoozing on the canvas. Lewis has now won five straight outings, with two of them coming under the UFC banner.
***The upper tier of the flyweight division has been historically thin since its inception in 2012. Outside of a handful of proven talents who have established themselves as perennial contenders, no other fighters have broken through the barrier between the elite and also-rans. On Sunday night, Roufusport fighter Dustin Ortiz took a big step into the next tier of the 125-pound fold when he defeated Justin Scoggins via split decision. In the process of handing Tank the first loss of his professional career, the 25-year-old picked up his sixth win in his last seven showings.
***Adriano Martins returned to his winning ways on Sunday night as he melted Juan Manuel Puig with a vicious right hand in the first round of their bout on the preliminary portion of the card. The bout was a back-and-forth affair until the Mexico City native landed a crushing shot below Martins’ belt, dropping the Brazilian to the canvas. Once Martins was able to recover, he came storming back with fire and scored the knockout shot shortly after. With the victory, the 32-year-old has now found success in seven of his last eight showings.
***Mixed martial arts is a multifaceted sport, but the art of jiu-jitsu is still very much alive. On Sunday night, Leandro Issa showed UFC fans what a slick ground game looks like as he worked a crafty submission game against JumabiekeTuerxun on the preliminary portion of the card. Issa originally grabbed onto a straight armbar before transitioning to his side and forcing the tap with pressure to the elbow joint. It was a savvy move from a proven grappling ace and one of the best finishes on the fight card.
***It wasn’t the prettiest performance, but Patrick Walsh earned the biggest win of his career over Daniel Spohn on Sunday night. Despite being a solid underdog in the bout, Walsh took the fight right to his TUFhousemate and earned a unanimous-decision victory in the process. While he ate a few big shots on the feet, Walsh’s wrestling skills made the difference as he was able to take the Ohio native down at will and earn crucial points.
***While the road to his official UFC debut took a few twists and turns, Robert Drysdale finally made his first appearance inside the Octagon at theTUF 19 Finale. The grappling ace locked up with Keith Berish to kick off the action at the Mandalay Bay and wasted no time in putting his jiu-jitsu to work inside the cage, scoring a quick first-round submission via rear-naked choke. The victory marked a successful inaugural showing for Drysdale and will further serve to bolster the buzz surrounding the Las Vegas representative.
The Bad
It wasn’t the way he wanted to end his career, but Penn’s storied run in the UFC came to a close on Sunday night. The MMA legend came out on the business end of a lopsided beating at the hands of his longtime rival Edgar in their trilogy bout at TUF 19 Finale.
While the former lightweight champion was making his debut in the featherweight fold and certainly looked to be in the best shape of his life, that appearance didn’t translate into his performance against Edgar. The Toms River native was too fast for the 35-year-old Hilo representative, as Edgar had his way with Penn at every turn.
Midway through the third round, Edgar busted Penn open with a flurry of elbows on the ground, and referee Herb Dean stepped in to wave off the fight shortly after. In the aftermath of the loss, the reality that Penn no longer resembled the hard-charging warrior he once was set in full force.
That said, Penn was certainly aware that was the case and announced his official retirement from MMA in his post-fight interview with Jon Anik. And that is definitely the right call to make.
While The Prodigy was once regarded as the greatest lightweight fighter on the planet, he hasn’t been to the win column since November 2010. In the three-and-a-half years that have passed since he drubbed Matt Hughes, he’s gone 0-3 (one no-contest) over his last five fight. While he is a surefire bid to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, Penn’s time inside the Octagon has come to a close.
There are very few great nicknames in MMA, but there are certainly a bevy of bad ones. That said, Anderson has officially claimed the worst moniker of all time with his “Beastin’ 25/8” tag. There have been some gloriously awful nicknames to come down the pipe in the face-punching biz, but the TUF finalist’s pseudonym is just painful. Painful, I tell you!
On the other hand, he put a salting on Van Buren, so it’s possible the nickname will stick around for a bit. Moving on to more badness…
While the action between Sarah Moras and Alexis Dufresne was solid throughout the 15-minute affair, the end result was laughable. And the reason for it being so was not so much based around the unanimous decision going the wrong way (which it did) but more along the lines of the reaction on the face of Moras when she was handed the decision.
She knew the victory belonged to Dufresne, and her face upon hearing the announcement told the entire story.
The Strange
It is a rare thing not to have a list of curious happenings to roll off for the readers of this column, and for the most part, the fights at The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale were fairly tame. That said, there was definitely a strange vibe in the air, but it was on the outside of the Octagon.
I’ve covered the sport for several years now and been on media row for a plethora of live events. With that in mind, there is always a unique vibe that comes along with fight night, and UFC 175 on Saturday night had it. Yet, heading back to the Mandalay Bay on Sunday afternoon, that vibe that typically accompanies covering an event was absent.
When I checked into the media room with the rest of my colleagues, it had the feeling of a group of factory workers checking back in after a 12-hour shift the day before. The lineup on the card may have been different—and the catered spread in the media room a different menu—but the grind was going to be the same. And it was.
While I understand why the UFC would try to maximize on the “International Fight Week” experience, two cards on the same weekend was a ragged run. Granted, there were certainly some exciting fights to be had on both nights, but the wear and tear on the scribes involved was apparent.
That said, the fighters on the card atTUF 19 Finale were not wasting time handling their business, as seven of the 11 bouts ended by way of finish.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand, unless noted otherwise.
A third fight between Frankie Edgar and 
