Monday Morning Hangover: What’s Next for BJ Penn after TKO loss to Yair Rodriguez?

Another weekend of fisticuffs has come and gone as UFC Fight Night 103 went down last night (Sun., Jan. 15, 2016) from inside Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.

For play-by-play coverage and full results of UFC Fight Night 103 click here.

Plenty of fighters were left licking their wounds, including Marcin Held, who was robbed of a win over Joe Lauzon after three rounds of action in the co-main event (video highlights here). And Vikto Pesta, who was choked out by Aleksei Oleinik via Ezekiel choke (see it again here).

But which fighter is suffering from the word post-fight hangover, just a few hours removed from the show?

BJ Penn.

The former Welterweight and Lightweight champion looked to make one more comeback attempt and one final run at a world title, as he returned to action after two and a half years away from the fight game.

The problem?

He faced a fast-rising star in Yair Rodriguez, who was going into the main event bout against "The Prodigy" with eight straight wins. And it didn’t take long before he had collected win number nine, as "El Pantera" absolutely dominated "The Prodigy" from start to finish.

Literally.

From the jump, Rodriguez mixed up his versatile striking, connecting at will with punches down the pipe and kicks to the face and head of Penn that had him guessing where the next one was coming from. After Yair channeled his inner-video game character and started landing "spinning shit," there wasn’t much Penn could do to stop the onslaught.

And that was just round one.

To open round two, Yair connected with a clean front kick to Penn’s face, and followed it with a left cross than floored the living legend to the canvas. After plenty of hammer fists that would make Brock Lesnar jealous, Rodriguez had ended Penn’s comeback, and perhaps his career (see it again here).

While Yair’s rise continues, Penn, on the other hand, continues to spiral downward, as the defeat was his fourth straight loss, with his last win coming in 2010. While one can appreciate his willingness and determination to mount a comeback in an age where the fighters of today are simply younger, stronger and better athletes, watching him go out like that was tough.

Fight fans were mostly sad to see him leave the game a few years back, despite the fact he had dropped three in a row. But, this time around I can’t fathom anyone shedding a tear if B.J. decides to call it a day for good.

And it’s not a knock on Penn, he simply doesn’t have anything left to prove. He hasn’t had anything to prove for awhile. But, it just seems the Penn doesn’t dig the retirement life much, which is why he opted to return to face punching.

Sadly, his best days are behind him and his brutal beatdown at the hands of Yair was evidence of that. Not even teaming up with famed Jackson-Wink MMA could help the Hawaiian recapture glory. I don’t see the promotion giving "Baby J" another bout inside the Octagon.

Let me rephrase that, I hope the promotion doesn’t give "Baby J" another bout inside the Octagon. And it's not that I don’t want to see him fight again because I dislike him. On the contrary, I simply don’t want to see one of the pioneers of a the sport and a true legend catch another brutal loss.

And neither do you... right?