BJ Penn fights this Saturday at UFC 237, though he has not won a fight in almost nine years.
BJ Penn is one of the sport’s all-time greats. Having fought since 2001, he earned the nickname of “The Prodigy” for his ability to pick up martial arts skills quickly, and because of accomplishing the extraordinary feat of earning his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in only three short years. Penn would go on to become a UFC champion in two different weight classes, which puts him in a distinguished section of fighters with the likes of Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, Georges St-Pierre, Conor McGregor, and Randy Couture.
Penn’s success in the early 2000s would lead him to become one of the biggest stars of the decade, and be seen as one of the greatest fighters of all time. Former Middleweight champion Anderson Silva has stated on many occasions that Penn is the greatest fighter of all time, and former UFC Heavyweight champion Mark Coleman has acknowledged Penn as his idol in the mixed martial arts world.
However, the sport would eventually pass Penn by. No fighter has ever defeated father-time, and Penn would eventually succumb to years of fighting and competition. Following UFC 107, where Penn would defend his lightweight title in one of his greatest outings, he would decline rapidly. Penn would go on to lose his lightweight championship to a young Frankie Edgar in April of 2010. Since that bout, Penn has had 10 fights and has only won one of them.
BJ Penn has had three retirements, the first coming after his brutal decision loss to Nick Diaz in 2011. He would then return months later to the Octagon, being trampled by Rory MacDonald in what was Penn’s most devastating loss to that point in his career. Sadly, it would get much worse. Penn would then retire after the loss to MacDonald, but once again would return to face Frankie Edgar in a trilogy fight in 2014. Where Penn would again be steamrolled by his younger foe. He would announce his retirement post-fight again, with a tearful press-conference after the bout.
Predictably, Penn would return. Despite initially announcing that he would return in the summer of 2016, legal issues and problems with USADA would hold off his return until January of 2017. There, Penn would face a younger foe, Yair Rodriguez, against who he would be brutalized, getting finished in the second round via TKO. Penn would go on to fight twice more, losing both bouts against competitors he would almost assuredly defeat in the prime of his career.
Sadly, Penn is fighting onward. Despite being 40 years of age, and having only won one of his last 10 bouts, he’s currently scheduled to fight Clay Guida at UFC 237 in Brazil. Guida is also up there in age, but while being 37, he’s won two of his last three fights and continues to fight at a decently high level, unlike Penn. So once again, BJ Penn is going into a fight he’s almost certainly going to lose, and when he does, we’re all going to feel bad about it.
Sadly, Penn’s issue with retirement is a very common thing within this sport that we all love. Penn is just a single example among hundreds of fighters who have an issue with letting go. For many competitors, fighting is all they know. It’s the only thing that they know how to do, seeing as it’s been their livelihood for such a long amount of time.
There aren’t many differences between Penn and other high-profile examples such as Ken Shamrock, who despite being 55, hasn’t officially retired. MMA Icon Chuck Liddell came out of retirement last November to fight for a paycheck, and lost via knockout to Tito Ortiz. Mark Hunt and Wanderlei Silva both haven’t retired despite being in their 40s, and admitting that they have symptoms consistent with CTE.
All too often we see our heroes get beat up because nobody wants to step in and say no. Athletic commissions that exist to protect fighters allow horrific mismatches and fighters that clearly shouldn’t be competing at all take punches for a subpar paycheck and one final shot at glory. Managers and trainers don’t say anything due to possible fear of missing out on a meal ticket, despite knowing that a fighter has no business being in a cage.
Many fighters such as BJ Penn have an issue with letting go; retirement is a scary thing because they’re losing one of the things they love to do. It’s an understandable fear and a concept that we all should be able to sympathize with. However, we shouldn’t encourage them to fight on, and we shouldn’t capitalize on their fame for a little extra money on a pay-per-view.
Win, lose or draw, BJ Penn shouldn’t be fighting this weekend. But there are tons of BJ Penns fighting every weekend. Hopefully, one day that isn’t the case.
