With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle this past Sunday at UFC Fight Night 103, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions. Yair Rodriguez vs. BJ Penn in a featherweight bout was the main event while Joe Lauzon vs. Marcin Held
With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle this past Sunday at UFC Fight Night 103, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions.
Yair Rodriguez vs. BJ Penn in a featherweight bout was the main event while Joe Lauzon vs. Marcin Held in a lightweight was the co-main event. Rounding out the main card was Court McGee vs. Ben Saunders in a welterweight bout and John Moraga vs. Sergio Pettis in a flyweight bout.
Some of the more notable suspensions include Rodriguez being suspended indefinitely, pending clearance from a physician and Penn, who was finished by strikes, being suspended 180 days. Other fighters that were suspended indefinitely includes Saunders and Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger.
Here are the entire medical suspensions:
Yair Rodriguez: Suspended indefinitely, pending clearance from a physician
BJ Penn: Suspended 180 days
Joe Lauzon: Suspended 30 days
Ben Saunders: Suspended indefinitely, pending clearance from a physician
Court McGee: Suspended 45 days
Sergio Pettis: Suspended 60 days
Devin Powell: Suspended 180 days
Frankie Saenz: Suspended 60 days
Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger: Suspended indefinitely, pending clearance from a physician
Nina Ansaroff: Suspended 180 days
Walt Harris: Suspended 30 days
Chase Sherman: Suspended 60 days
Joachim Christensen: Suspended 30 days
Bojan Mihajlovic: Suspended 30 days
Dmitrii Smoliakov: Suspended 30 days
UFC Fight Night 103 took place on Sunday, on January 15, 2017 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The prelims on Fight Pass featured four bouts starting at 6:15 p.m. ET while the FOX Sports 1 prelims featured four bouts starting at 8 p.m. ET. The main card featured four bouts starting at 10 p.m. ET.
The Arizona State Athletic Commission released the UFC Fight Night 103 salaries on Tuesday. Yair Rodriguez ($100,000) vs. BJ Penn ($150,000) in a featherweight bout was the main event while Joe Lauzon ($116,000) vs. Marcin Held ($20,000) in a lightweight was the co-main event. Rounding out the main card was Court McGee ($35,000) vs. Ben
The Arizona State Athletic Commission released the UFC Fight Night 103 salaries on Tuesday.
Yair Rodriguez ($100,000) vs. BJ Penn ($150,000) in a featherweight bout was the main event while Joe Lauzon ($116,000) vs. Marcin Held ($20,000) in a lightweight was the co-main event. Rounding out the main card was Court McGee ($35,000) vs. Ben Saunders ($40,000) in a welterweight bout and John Moraga ($54,000) vs. Sergio Pettis ($28,000) in a flyweight bout.
UFC Fight Night 103 took place on Sunday, January 15, 2017 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The prelims on Fight Pass featured four bouts starting at 6:15 p.m. ET while the FOX Sports 1 prelims featured four bouts starting at 8 p.m. ET. The main card featured four bouts starting at 10 p.m. ET.
B.J. Penn may have been torched in his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) return, but he did earn the most when it comes to base salaries. The UFC Fight Night event from Phoenix, Arizona this p…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEQz7HGT_-0&t=68s
B.J. Penn may have been torched in his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) return, but he did earn the most when it comes to base salaries. The UFC Fight Night event from Phoenix, Arizona this past Sunday (Jan. 15) is now history. The main event saw the UFC Hall of Famer battle Yair Rodriguez.
Except this wasn’t even really a battle.
“El Pantera’s” speed and flashiness were simply too much for “The Prodigy.” Instead of looking like the man who once dominated the lightweight division, Penn looked slow and a few steps behind the game. Still, he earned $150,000 to show. Rodriguez went home with $100,000 and that’s not including his $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus.
The co-main event saw lightweights Joe Lauzon and Marcin Held go toe-to-toe. The fight was exciting, but it ended in controversy. “J-Lau” was awarded the split decision win, but he felt he didn’t deserve it. Many fans and experts felt the same way. Lauzon walked out of the Talking Stick Arena with $116,000, while Held took home $20,000.
Another controversial decision came at the end of Ben Saunders’ bout with Court McGee. While many had McGee winning the fight, “Killa B” was awarded the win by unanimous decision. Saunders earned $40,000 for the win and his opponent took home $35,000.
Below are the rest of the card’s disclosed salaries:
In the sport of mixed martial arts, fight fans understandably want to see their beloved fighters and former champions attempt to achieve glory late in their careers or after an extended period of time away from the sport. But as we’ve seen time and time again, the fight game, especially the UFC, is often unforgiving, and
In the sport of mixed martial arts, fight fans understandably want to see their beloved fighters and former champions attempt to achieve glory late in their careers or after an extended period of time away from the sport.
But as we’ve seen time and time again, the fight game, especially the UFC, is often unforgiving, and rarely does it offer fighters the storybook ending they had hoped for.
That was recently the case with 38-year-old BJ Penn, a former lightweight and welterweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer who returned to action for the first time since July 2014 in the main event of this past weekend’s (Jan. 15, 2017) UFC Fight Night 103 from Phoenix, Arizona.
Penn, who hasn’t won a fight since 2010, was matched up with surging 24-year-old prospect Yair Rodriguez, an explosive kicker with lightning speed. At this stage of Penn’s career, the fight was clearly a bad match-up for him, but that didn’t stop the excitement building inside of fans as the event approached.
“The Prodigy” had brought in the help of legendary trainers Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn to prepare for the bout. He had also reunited with longtime boxing coach Jason Parillo. Leading up to the fight, Penn seemed motivated, saying that he was returning because he could and that fighting was his life.
It was this aura surrounding the former two-division world champion that ignited hope into the minds and hearts of his faithful fan base. While it seemed like a daunting task for Penn to take out Rodriguez, deep down, fans of the Hawaiian were hoping that we would see a resurrection of Penn from his prime; a crisp and powerful boxer who possessed some of the best jiu-jitsu in the world.
He was a savage who licked the blood off of his gloves after dispatching an opponent with the type of finishing ability that embodied the sprit of a warrior, which Penn was and always will be.
But perhaps we should’ve known better. Did Penn, at this stage of his career, really have what it took to topple Rodriguez?
It turned out he didn’t, as the Hawaiian was rocked and battered throughout the first round of the fight before being finished early in the second. His toughness was on full display as usual, but in the end, that just wasn’t even close to enough in today’s fast-paced, cutthroat MMA world.
“The Prodigy’s” fighting future is currently unclear. In the aftermath of the bout, many had called for his retirement, but only he can decide when to hang up the gloves for good. If this is the end for Penn, however, the harsh realities of the fight game were once again on full display.
Looking to erase the memories of his recent losing skid, Penn was only met with the unforgiving nature of the sport he had once ruled. Rather then deliver Penn the storybook ending he was likely hoping for, the fight game smacked Penn in the face with the fact that time waits for no man.
This isn’t the first time this has been seen either, as many of the legends from Penn’s era were met with the same reality.
Revered former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell lost five of his last six bouts with his last three losses coming by way of stoppage before he retired in 2010. Former longtime welterweight champion Matt Hughes was also knocked out twice in a row before calling it quits in 2011.
Former 170-pound king Georges St. Pierre is one of the few fighters to leave the game on his own terms, and even he has been contemplating a return to action over the last year.
As far as Penn’s career goes, nothing can be taken away from him. His demolitions of Joe Stevenson and Diego Sanchez were brutal and iconic and his stoppages over Hughes, Sean Sherk, Jens Pulver, and Kenny Florian were legendary.
Penn’s accomplishments will always speak for themselves, and the memories he has left fight fans with will live on forever, but the storybook ending he was longing for seems nowhere to be found. His return to action in 2017 reminded fight fans of some brutal truths that we often like to dismiss in the presence of a heart-warming and nostalgic story.
Time catches up to all in MMA, however, and the fight game once again left its mark on another revered legend last weekend.
Tony Martin was left in an unusual situation this past weekend at UFC Fight Night 103.
Martin’s cup broke during his fight on FOX Sports 1 with Alex White, leaving him with a choice to make. He figured that situation out and went on to claim a decision win, but it made for an interesting fight the rest of the way.
“It was kind of an awkward situation and I’m going through my head, ‘I don’t want to take the chance of them calling the fight off over something stupid like this,’ so we just cut off the strings and I just put it in my regular compression shorts,” Martin said (thanks to MMAjunkie for the quotes). “Obviously it wasn’t tight or anything, and it was moving around the whole time. It was just kind of an awkward situation and it threw me off. The first 30 seconds, we had the game plan of being first and landing first and it worked out perfectly, and then it all threw off my whole game.
“I blame myself. I let it mess with my game plan, and that’s what I was mostly disappointed in. But it was a 30-27 win, so you can’t be too disappointed because a win in the UFC is a big win.”
Entering the night below .500 in the UFC, Martin (11-3) knew a win was very important to even his Octagon mark at 3-3. Now, he wants to take on a bigger name in his next bout.
“If I had to throw out one name, I would say there’s one guy out there that keeps fighters that don’t belong in the UFC (in Mickey Gall),” Martin said. “He’s 3-0 and he’s fought a guy that’s never fought a mixed martial arts fight, he fought a guy that was a pro wrestler, and then he fought a guy that’s a pretty boy – he’s a nice guy, but he’s just a pretty boy. He’s not a real fighter.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocipCnn9zl8
Tony Martin was left in an unusual situation this past weekend at UFC Fight Night 103.
Martin’s cup broke during his fight on FOX Sports 1 with Alex White, leaving him with a choice to make. He figured that situation out and went on to claim a decision win, but it made for an interesting fight the rest of the way.
“It was kind of an awkward situation and I’m going through my head, ‘I don’t want to take the chance of them calling the fight off over something stupid like this,’ so we just cut off the strings and I just put it in my regular compression shorts,” Martin said (thanks to MMAjunkie for the quotes). “Obviously it wasn’t tight or anything, and it was moving around the whole time. It was just kind of an awkward situation and it threw me off. The first 30 seconds, we had the game plan of being first and landing first and it worked out perfectly, and then it all threw off my whole game.
“I blame myself. I let it mess with my game plan, and that’s what I was mostly disappointed in. But it was a 30-27 win, so you can’t be too disappointed because a win in the UFC is a big win.”
Entering the night below .500 in the UFC, Martin (11-3) knew a win was very important to even his Octagon mark at 3-3. Now, he wants to take on a bigger name in his next bout.
“If I had to throw out one name, I would say there’s one guy out there that keeps fighters that don’t belong in the UFC (in Mickey Gall),” Martin said. “He’s 3-0 and he’s fought a guy that’s never fought a mixed martial arts fight, he fought a guy that was a pro wrestler, and then he fought a guy that’s a pretty boy – he’s a nice guy, but he’s just a pretty boy. He’s not a real fighter.”
UFC Hall Of Famer BJ Penn made his return to fighting action last night (Sunday, January 15, 2016) when he took on No. 10-ranked featherweight Yair Rodriguez in the main event of UFC Phoenix, suffering a brutal second round knockout loss to ‘El Pantera’. Rodriguez systematically picked apart ‘The Prodigy’ throughout the first six minutes
UFC Hall Of Famer BJ Penn made his return to fighting action last night (Sunday, January 15, 2016) when he took on No. 10-ranked featherweight Yair Rodriguez in the main event of UFC Phoenix, suffering a brutal second round knockout loss to ‘El Pantera’.
Rodriguez systematically picked apart ‘The Prodigy’ throughout the first six minutes of the contest, before landing a devastating hook that dropped the former lightweight and welterweight champ and eating a barrage of punches to end the night. Penn did not speak to any media following the loss, however, a few fellow fighters chimed in on the matter (via FOX Sports) during the FS1 post-fight show, stating that they believe it’s time for Penn to hang up the gloves.
Former UFC featherweight and lightweight title challenger Kenny Florian, who lost to Penn back in 2009 in their 155-pound title clash, believes the sport has finally caught up to ‘The Prodigy’ and doesn’t want to see Penn take another vicious beating like that again:
“Retire at this point. No one needs to see a legend like BJ Penn go out like that,” Florian said. “That was very hard to see, not to mention the last fight against Frankie Edgar was very hard to see. Now we’re it again with Yair Rodriguez. The sport has passed him by.
“This is an eventuality for every single fighter. It doesn’t matter, eventually, you don’t move the same way if you don’t keep up with the sport, you’re going to get beat down like this. This sport is way too hard. There’s other ways to make money and I hope BJ Penn finds some kind of peace in retiring finally.”
Photo by Mark J. Rebilas for USA TODAY Sports
Previously Penn’s return was scheduled to take place against lesser-caliber competition, as he was at one point booked against Dennis Siver, followed by Cole Miller soon thereafter. Unfortunately neither of those bouts were able to hold up, eventually landing Penn standing across the Octagon from Rodriguez.
Current UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley isn’t too quick to tell Penn to walk away from the sport, but to perhaps ease back into things by picking his opponents more carefully:
“From the beginning this matchup was problematic,” Woodley said. “Maybe a Cole Miller or a matchup like that would have been a better interest fight back into the UFC.
“Coming in and fighting Yair Rodriguez, who has been on a complete tear might not have been the wisest choice by BJ Penn so I’m not going to completely say retire but he needs to consider his opponents in his next bout.”
Do you think Penn should fight again? If so, who should he throw-down with next?
