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Poll: After His Latest Brutal Loss, Is It Time for BJ Penn to Retire?

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BJ Penn‘s 15-minute ass-kicking at the hands of Rory MacDonald at UFC on FOX 5 accomplished several things: Most importantly, it gave MacDonald a grand stage to introduce himself as one of the rulers of the welterweight division. (Established veterans and up-and-coming prospects alike are now calling him out to get attention for themselves.) The fight gave Penn the new record for total time spent in the Octagon — five hours, three minutes, and 51 seconds, surpassing Tito Ortiz — and helped sustain Penn’s own personal statistic of never being knocked down in the Octagon, a piece of trivia made even more astounding by the damage he was taking on Saturday.

The fight also meant that Penn’s six UFC appearances from 2010-2012 have resulted in only a single victory, his 21-second demolition of Matt Hughes at UFC 123. His last two fights (against MacDonald and Nick Diaz) were utterly lopsided, and before that, he was lucky to escape with a draw against Jon Fitch. As a welterweight, BJ Penn is no longer competitive with the best in the world. And like many legendary fighters, he’ll probably be the last person to realize it.

Will Penn take this latest whooping as a sign that it’s time to hang up the gloves for good? Here’s Dana White’s take on the subject, following the event:

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Will Penn take this latest whooping as a sign that it’s time to hang up the gloves for good? Here’s Dana White’s take on the subject, following the event:

“He didn’t say it tonight but I think BJ is probably going to retire. I wouldn’t mind seeing that…B.J. is a warrior. Talk about a guy who doesn’t give up, doesn’t quit, and just keeps coming. I have so much respect for B.J. I always have, even through the good times and bad times. I‘d like to see him retire. He’s got plenty of money, he’s got a great family that loves him, he’s got babies, a beautiful wife…He has nothing left to prove to anybody, and everybody loves him. You heard the arena here tonight. I’d like to see B.J. retire.”

Keep in mind that Penn basically was retired until a simple call-out by Rory MacDonald changed his mind. If that’s all it takes to get Penn fired up, it’s possible that we haven’t seen the last of him. But I’m with Dana on this one — Penn can only hurt his legacy by returning to the cage against another top welterweight, and should step away from the sport before he crosses the line from beloved superstar to cautionary tale. (Just because a guy isn’t losing consciousness in every fight a la Chuck Liddell, doesn’t mean he’s safe from significant brain trauma. Penn’s freakish ability to remain upright and awake during his fights might actually be doing untold long-term damage to his health.)

So what do you think? Use the poll below, and hit us with your additional commentary in the comments section.

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BJ Penn Next Fight: Fighter Ruins Legacy Continuing Career in Octagon

B.J. Penn looked absolutely spent Saturday night.Simply saying he lost to Rory MacDonald at UFC on FOX 5 doesn’t do justice to how much MacDonald dominated the fight. Two of the judges scored the fight 30-26 with the third a little closer at 30-27.Figh…

B.J. Penn looked absolutely spent Saturday night.

Simply saying he lost to Rory MacDonald at UFC on FOX 5 doesn’t do justice to how much MacDonald dominated the fight. Two of the judges scored the fight 30-26 with the third a little closer at 30-27.

FightMetric had MacDonald scoring 116 signature strikes to Penn’s 24. In terms of percentages, it came out to 57 percent for MacDonald and a paltry 24 percent for Penn.

At one point, MacDonald dropped his hands and simply taunted his opponent. It’s the ultimate sign of disrespect, but it’s also very telling of Penn’s present ability in the Octagon.

The fight might not have been in the weight class in which Penn has excelled in the past, but it doesn’t change the fact he looked like he had nothing left in the tank.

Penn has “retired” before only to return from hiatus, but this time he should make it official.

Even UFC President Dana White put in his two cents regarding Penn’s future. He told ESPN:

I would love to see BJ Penn retire. I really do love the guy. All the good, the bad, the ugly we’ve been through over the last 13 years—I care about him. He’s got money. He’s got a family that loves him. He’s got a beautiful wife, kids, nothing left to prove. I would like to see BJ ride off into the sunset.

White hit the nail right on the head when he said that Penn has nothing to prove anymore. He career exploits already make him worthy of the UFC Hall of Fame. Nothing he does from now on will change that.

The longer he prolongs his career, however, the further he gets from when he was one of the best fighters in the world. He can’t do anything from now that will change how good he was, but it can alter his legacy. The only place left to go is down at this point.

Brett Favre is one of the greatest quarterbacks in history, but his career was irrevocably damaged by his waffling on whether or not he would return and subsequent stints with the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings.

Mike Tyson hung on way too long and was knocked out by Lennox Lewis, Danny Williams and Kevin McBride. The days of “Iron Mike” are a mere afterthought to his biting Evander Holyfield’s ear and his talking of fading into “Bolivian.”

Fighters especially have a hard time calling it quits.

Whether it’s boxing or MMA, fights can turn with one punch. That’s the attitude that many fighters have. Although their ability is diminished, they firmly believe that they can end a fight with the right opening.

As much as fans might love Penn, they wouldn’t enjoy another fight in which he was thoroughly outclassed again. It leaves another sour image on to the end of his legacy.

Penn has had one of the more illustrious careers in the history of UFC. Now’s not the time to go and mess it all up.

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BJ Penn: An In-Depth Analysis of His UFC on Fox 5 Performance

Once again, BJ Penn has been roughed up and run over by another legitimate welterweight, and once again we are left to ponder if such a loss will send him into retirement, perhaps permanently this time. When looking at Penn’s performance against …

When looking at Penn’s performance against Rory MacDonald, we see much that has remained the same over his past few outings, and that seems to be a vast contrast to his fights at lightweight.

So, when looking at it under the microscope, so to speak, how do we think Penn did? Granted, he was in there against a rising star that enjoyed the advantages of reach, youth, strength and perhaps even hype, but in the end, Penn held his own future in his hands.

Perhaps one of the glaring holes in his showing against MacDonald is that he chose to fight the wrong fight against a man so much longer and younger than himself. Perhaps this is just a matter of hubris for a man with as much talent as Penn, but it’s clear that he’s not learning from his mistakes.

Penn didn’t use nearly as much movement as he should have. Against MacDonald, he should have been constantly circling and giving angles instead of plodding forward or backward.

He never really gave MacDonald anything other that a mainly stationary target when he should have been giving him a great deal of movement and feints. It seems obvious that he’s come to expect that he’s not going to get to land the heavy leather unless he is planted and can thus explode from there, and given the reach disadvantage he had, that simply wasn’t going to work.

Then, he didn’t respond with energy or desperation due the moment whenever he was pinned against the cage. It’s very good not to panic, but you have to get out of any spot that would be found in your opponent’s wheelhouse, and the clinch game clearly favored MacDonald.

After his last loss to Nick Diaz, this should have been obvious to Penn and he should have done damn near anything to get out of those positions, even if it looked like he was running for a moment.

Another opportunity for improvement for Penn is more defensive head movement to go along with constant circling when his opponent is at range. Penn is small for the division, and MacDonald was basically able to hit Penn with many kicks and jabs, mainly because Penn wasn’t doing enough to make himself anything other than a predictable, stationary target.

Then, of course, comes the question of commitment. Penn knew MacDonald was going to have many advantages while the bout was standing, but he didn’t commit to attacking like a man who knows it is better to give than receive.

He should have come in conditioned enough to throw at least 100 strikes per round, if not more. You can’t keep anyone on the defensive if you don’t give them anything to worry about, and Penn seemed to be either trying to keep MacDonald at bay or to play catch up on the score cards; neither of those plans speak very well for being aggressive toward the end of finishing a fight with strikes.

Lastly, it has become clear in Penn’s time at welterweight that he is slowly beginning to show his inner Quinton “Rampage” Jackson—never mixing things up with kicks and knees and elbows to go along with the punches. That simply won’t win him any fights in a division where his opponents are going to be bigger than he is, and it certainly failed him against MacDonald.

If Penn honestly wants to contend at welterweight, he must make drastic changes that include a brand-new conditioning program and a devotion to smart game plans. In short, he needs to start training with a group of fighters in a camp where he isn’t in charge; learning new things and new ways to apply them requires a student’s mindset, not that of a teacher.

He could always go back and spend some time with Randy Couture or perhaps even throw convention to the wind and train with someone like Frankie Edgar, who knows all about constant movement, effective counters and the like.

Over all, Penn’s performance was typical of the Penn that fights at welterweight, and that’s not the best Penn he can produce.

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UFC on Fox 5 Results: Benson Henderson and the 10 Best Lightweights in History

Well, that was convincing.At UFC on Fox 5 Saturday night, Benson Henderson thoroughly and enthusiastically defended his lightweight belt against a nasty and streaking challenger in Nathan Diaz. Henderson smothered Diaz’s potent boxing attack, took him …

Well, that was convincing.

At UFC on Fox 5 Saturday night, Benson Henderson thoroughly and enthusiastically defended his lightweight belt against a nasty and streaking challenger in Nathan Diaz. Henderson smothered Diaz‘s potent boxing attack, took him down at regular intervals and tenderized him with ground strikes. It was a horn-to-horn trucking, and a true unanimous decision win.

Only a true elite at the top of his game can produce that kind of masterwork. Plenty of fans were reluctant to buy many shares in Bendo after two rather uncompelling wins over the beloved Frankie Edgar (one to win the belt and one to defend it). But after Saturday night, the time to get in on the ground floor is officially over.

So yeah, no question Bendo‘s a champion. But where does he rank among the top 10 lightweights of all time? Does he even crack the list? Let’s take a look, why don’t we.

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UFC on FOX 5: B.J. Penn Aims to Recover from Brutal Loss

The UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Diaz has a solid fight card that not only solidified lightweight title holder Benson Henderson as the elite 155 pound fighter in the world, but also represented a changing of the guard for two legendary fighters that helpe…

Rory MacDonald dominated B.J. Penn for three rounds and landed punches and kicks at will. At no point did Penn ever make the fight competitive. MacDonald looked quicker on his feet as he defended takedowns and battered the body of Penn with leg kicks that seemed to come from every angle and direction. MacDonald spoke prior to the fight about being a huge B.J. Penn fan, then went out and easily beat up a legend of the sport and one of his idols in front of a nationally televised audience.

Was it the best B.J. Penn in the octagon on Saturday night? Of course not, But when was the last time that fight fans have seen Penn at his best? The last several years in the UFC have not been kind to the former UFC lightweight and welterweight title holder. Since his loss to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94 in 2009, Penn has compiled a 3-4-1 record with his last three bouts fought to a draw with Jon Fitch and lost two in a row to Nick Diaz and Rory MacDonald, respectively.

The B.J. Penn loss to Rory McDonald was painful to watch and left no question as to the future of “The Prodigy.” If he decides to keep fighting in the UFC he must consider dropping back down to lightweight where he will have a better opportunity for success. His decision to fight at the welterweight level will only lead to losses and further physical and mental punishment. Penn simply cannot keep fighting the larger welterweights who cut weight from 200 pounds. The older Penn gets the slower he becomes and the less effective his takedowns become, as was proven in the match against MacDonald. There is still plenty of punch left in the hands of B.J. Penn, but they would be more effective against the smaller fighters. Today’s welterweights are just too quick and too strong for Penn and they easily beat him to the punch.

If UFC President Dana White decides to retain the services of B.J. Penn, he could do so by requiring Penn to fight at lightweight. Who would be a possible matchup for Penn in the lightweight division? Jon Fitch who fought Penn to a draw at UFC 127. That fight could be Penn’s last at welterweight or a possible catch weight because there would be no title on the line. Or, a B.J. Penn vs. Nate Diaz matchup. Both fighters are coming off losses and stylistically would make for a crowd pleasing fight.

If B.J. Penn decides to keep fighting it will be against the wishes of UFC President Dana White, but ultimately it will be a decision that only Penn can make. No one would fault Penn for hanging up his gloves and moving on to a new stage of his life. The future for Penn is uncertain, but the mark that he left on the sport is undeniable.

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BJ Penn: 5 Fights for Him to Get Back on Track

Does BJ Penn still have a career left in any weight division?After being chased out of the 155-pound title picture by Frankie Edgar, we’ve seen “The Prodigy” in a quickly-descending spiral. But it might not be too late for him to climb back from the br…

Does BJ Penn still have a career left in any weight division?

After being chased out of the 155-pound title picture by Frankie Edgar, we’ve seen “The Prodigy” in a quickly-descending spiral. But it might not be too late for him to climb back from the brink.

We’ve seen it before. Penn suffered a horrible 1-3 four-fight stretch back in his early career days (losing to a killer’s row of Lyoto Machida, Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre), but bounced back as soon as he returned to the lightweight division.

With that in mind, here’s five fights that can get BJ Penn back on track if the UFC legend decides to repeat history and reinvigorate himself one more time.

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