C'mon Now...the UFC Needs To Get Out of the B.J. Penn Business

Despite a run of 0-7-1, the UFC is giving B.J. Penn another fight...it shouldn't

Jul 27, 2019

It's no secret that it's best to release bad news to the press on a Friday evening. The thinking is that the report will slip past a lot of the people who would typically be interested in that news. When the UFC is releasing bad news on a Friday and the promotion has a pay-per-view event scheduled for the next day, it's safe to assume the organization hopes that the bad news will quickly fall from the radar of fans and media.

With that in mind, it wasn't exactly shocking to discover that the UFC is going to give B.J. Penn another fight. The UFC Hall of Famer and former two-division champion has not had his hand raised in victory since he defeated Matt Hughes in November 2010. He is currently winless in his past eight bouts and 1-9-1 dating back to April 2010.

UFC president Dana White has been urging Penn to retire since at least 2013.

"B.J. is too tough for his own good," White said a few months after Rory MacDonald defeated Penn by decision. "B.J. might not get knocked out, but the shots that B.J. took would have knocked out a normal human being. He's had his head bounced off the canvas like a basketball by Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre and Rory MacDonald just did it to him. B.J. Penn has left that octagon looking like a fucking alien. He's too tough for his own good. You don't knockout B.J. Penn -- he absorbs every amount of punishment you give him. It doesn't mean he hasn't taken any damage … he's taken a lot of damage. And I don't want to see him take any more."

Penn took a break of over a year after the loss to MacDonald, but he returned to action to face Frankie Edgar in July 2014. Edgar won that contest by TKO.

After the loss, Penn announced his retirement.

"I shouldn't have came back. I shouldn't have been in the ring tonight," Penn said at the post-fight press conference. "Dana said it was over, and I have to agree with him at this point. I'm glad I took the chance."

White said he was reluctant to give Penn the fight with Edgar.

"I didn't want to see him fight tonight, but B.J. wanted it. I respect him," the UFC president told Fox Sports 1 after the contest.

Penn's retirement ended in January 2017 when he lost to Yair Rodriguez by second-round TKO. Surprisingly, the UFC gave Penn three more fights after that. He lost each of those bouts, including his most recent contest, a May matchup against Clay Guida at UFC 237.

In the lead up to UFC 238, White once again said he thought it was time for Penn to walk away from the sport for good.

"I want B.J. to retire," White told TSN. "I love B.J. Penn. B.J. Penn is one of the legends of the sport. This is a young man's game. I gave him a lot of opportunities because he's B.J. and because of the relationship that I've had with B.J. his entire career and before that.

"But I can't do that again. I can't do it again."

White made that statement less than two months ago.

On Friday he told TSN that Penn would fight Nik Lentz later this year. The news was not greeted with enthusiasm by most of the MMA world.

Aaron Bronsteter @aaronbronsteter

BREAKING: Per @danawhite, BJ Penn will return to the octagon. He will be facing Nik Lentz, both sides have verbally agreed. Date and location TBD.

Some supporters used the argument that Penn is not getting knocked out cold during his winless streak. The logic here is that if a fighter is not getting knocked out, he must not be taking a large amount of damage. That does not seem to be the case. Studies indicate that subconcussive blows can lead to issues later in life. Those studies suggest that someone does not need to suffer a concussion to sustain a brain injury. Throughout his winless streak, Penn has absorbed a total of 1,069 blows. Of those strikes, 463 have been significant strikes to Penn's head. Penn is most definitely taking damage, even if he, the UFC and a particular faction of fans refuse to acknowledge that fact.

White has been unafraid to suggest that fighters retire. He went as far as to say that Holly Holm should consider retirement after her loss to Amanda Nunes earlier this month. Holm's loss to Nunes at UFC 239 was the first knockout setback of her MMA career. It's pretty hypocritical to suggest that Holm, after losing to the woman that many consider the GOAT, retire, while he continues to enable Penn, who has been relegated to the prelims in his past two outings.

There's a chance that the UFC is giving Penn fights because the promotion knows he will sign with another organization if they release him. To that, I respond...so what? Penn is not a draw for the UFC these days. The fact that he hasn't been on a PPV card since he lost to Nick Diaz in 2011 speaks to that. If another organization wants to sign Penn, that shouldn't be a concern for the UFC. It's almost unseemly that the promotion continues to book him.

Some fans will also argue that it's not up to the UFC, the media or the fans to tell a fighter when to retire. I don't agree with that. Sometimes fighters are surrounded by sycophants and enablers who know they can profit from a fighter continuing well past their expiration date. Those fighters need to at least hear dissenting voices.

Another reason the UFC should not book Penn is that he has had three highly publicized outside the cage incidents in the past year. The former UFC champ was accused of domestic violence. He was also accused of threatening a taro farmer with a machete. Most recently, Penn was allegedly involved in a scrap with a doorman outside a strip club in Hawaii. If the UFC truly cared about Penn, it seems as if the promotion would be better served in assisting him with his personal life rather than with his fighting life.

I want to say I'm shocked by the Penn booking, but I'm not. Tell me when the UFC releases Penn, now that will amaze me.

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