Jordan Griffit
Student Sports Media Columnist
I will take this time to inform you that MMA legend and pioneer B.J Penn’s career is officially (or needs to be) over. B.J Penn is best known for being the first fighter ever to achieve two belts in two different weight divisions. Penn is one of the best submissions specialist of all time and is one of the best fighters of all time as well, but his career must be over at this point after the utter defeat to Yair Rodriguez.
Rodriguez is the top prospect in the UFC, but at this point it’s hard to still call him a prospect. He has taken over the featherweight division while even scoring a vicious knockout of Andre Fili on April 26, 2016, with a jumping switch kick. Then Penn and Rodriguez faced off in the octagon on Jan. 15, and it was the turning of a generation as Rodriguez absolutely destroyed Penn within two rounds. He dropped Penn in the second round with a beautiful front kick and right hand combo. If he does in fact retire, he will stay atop of the mount rushmore of MMA fighters.
Now another possible retirement story could be the one of Ronda Rousey as she was just mowed over by Amanda Nunes in just 48 seconds at UFC 207. Now she has lost back-to-back fights and faces a crossroad in her career. Will she retire and continue acting or buckle down and go back to MMA full time? That has yet to be discovered, but her problem is not that she just doesn’t have it anymore. It’s that she never had it in the first place.
Rousey has been taking advantage of one of the weakest divisions in the UFC with very few good strikers. And if you watched the fight, facing strikers, is her kryptonite. What’s happening to her is the same thing that happened to Gina Carano when she was knocked out by Cristiane Justino. It’s not that they lost a step, it’s that the division has become so much stronger and Rousey has fallen behind in her time off, Simple as that. So don’t look at her as someone that could’ve been. Look at her as someone that laid the foundation for the division and truly kickstarted the Women’s Bantamweight division.
Look out for the 135 Men’s Bantamweight division as new champ Cody “No Love’ Garbrandt could very well face off against former Team Alpha Male teammate, T.J Dillashaw. If that fight comes to fruition, that is a fight of the year candidate. Also llom for the rematch of Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson as they rematch after their insane battle at UFC 205. I thought that the fight was a draw but the judges ended up giving a majority draw to Woodley. It should be an interesting few months for the sport so keep an eye out.
