Dana White Confirms BJ Penn Wouldn’t Fight Again
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion BJ Penn (16-14) was once a force to be reckoned with at one point in his career with notable wins over Matt Hughes, Takanori Gomi, and Diego Sanchez. But in 2014, he retired after the third loss to Frankie Edgar and decided to come back for more in 2017.
Well, “The Prodigy” can now boast the longest losing streak (Seven) in UFC history, and so it’s no wonder UFC President Dana White intervened. His last fight ended via decision to Clay Guida at the UFC 237 pay-per-view (PPV) event last month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and it’s clear that legendary fighters best days are over.
In an interview with Aaron Bronsteter, White was asked if Penn would get another fight in the UFC, and the former’s response was…
“No, I want BJ to retire. I love BJ Penn. BJ 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 BJ and because of the relationship that I’ve had with BJ his entire career and before that.”
“But I can’t do that again.”
Dana White would like to see BJ Penn retire and would also like to see Sage Northcutt retire, says "this sport isn't for him" pic.twitter.com/k1vEjV1IMY
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) June 7, 2019
White made a good call here because, in the sport of fighting, age is a big factor when it comes to performance. And at age 40, Penn has slowed drastically and is now just a shadow of his former self. But even though he’ll be forced to retire, BJ Penn will always be a legend of the sport.