Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) two-division titleholder, BJ Penn, tried to make his return to mixed martial arts (MMA) as a featherweight after more than two years on the sidelines.
Despite a 1-6-1 record dating back to 2009, along with his 38 years of age, promotion matchmakers likely believed “The Prodigy” had done enough throughout his hall-of-fame career to warrant a main event slot against a dynamic young up-and-comer like Yair Rodriguez.
And even if they were wrong, well ... he still had that iron chin.
But it soon became painfully obvious that Penn did not belong inside the cage with a savage like “Pantera,” after a brutal technical knockout loss in the UFC Fight Night 103 main event earlier this month in Phoenix, Arizona.
One that left coach Jason Parillo (via Submission Radio) unhappy with how everything unfolded.
“Wouldn’t it be nice for a matchmaker to call up BJ Penn when he says he wants to come back after a two-and-a-half-year layoff, hasn’t won since 2010 and say, “hey man, we want you to come back. Yeah, we’d love to give you a fight. And let’s give you whoever – Joe Bloggs, it doesn’t matter, give us a 35-year-old guy. The guy won two world titles, he’s done everything for the company, he’s never said no to any fights, he’s made himself and the company plenty of money. It’d be nice to kind of get the opportunity to shake off a little rust and put BJ in there with a guy that, you know, he’s got a better chance than a four and a half to one. Four and a half to one is a pretty big spread.
BJ Penn’s the only guy I know that hasn’t won a fight since 2010 and they’ll give him a main event fight against the number four guy in the division, or whatever. Do you see a lot of guys getting that opportunity? No, you don’t. But they know he’ll do it. They know he won’t say no and they know he will take on everybody. He prefers to fight the top ten guys. I mean, I would’ve loved to be the guy to be able to pick the fight, but that’s not my job and that’s not my position. But I would’ve loved to have been that guy, I’ll tell you that much.”
He could have been, if he was around to hear this.
Most of the fight community has been split on whether or not Penn should retire from combat sports, though it should be noted that Rodriguez believes “The Prodigy” is still strong enough to hang with some mid-level guys at 145 pounds. Or maybe everyone is simply waiting for this.
Maybe it’s finally time for that Joe Bloggs match up?