"It was sort of like WWE when you have to get somebody over. Well, that's what they were doing with BJ. BJ's a legend, he's tough, durable, but lets get this kid over by headlining the event with him against BJ Penn...The speed and balance are the first things to go when you're starting to age. That's what it looked like to me, that he was an aged fighter trying to hang on. It's just not his time anymore. He's a legend of the game and I respect the hell out of the guy and I love him, but I don't want to see him fight again," stated world-class trainer Ron Frazier, who shared his thoughts on BJ Penn's loss to Yair Rodriguez. Check it out!
PC: They say all good things come to an end. For a guy that has covered so much ground in mixed martial arts, it appears that end has come for BJ Penn. What are your thoughts on what you witnessed during his fight against Yair Rodriguez?
RF: I'm not surprised. Boxing and MMA have a way of feeding their legends to the young. At this point and this stage in BJ's career, what would you want to keep him away from? Some guy that was super athletic. He couldn't handle Frankie Edgar's athleticism when he was a lot younger, so what makes you think a young lion that's even more athletic than Frankie Edgar at a lower weight wouldn't do that to BJ? They were setting him up to look exactly how it looked.
PC: I don't know if BJ requested this type of opponent or requested to be the headliner, but putting him in a 5-round fight off of a layoff against a guy so young and awkward with his striking, and unpredictable with his striking, just didn't seem like a recipe to possibly get 2 or 3 more fights out of BJ.
RF: Absolutely! It was sort of like WWE when you have to get somebody over. Well, that's what they were doing with BJ. BJ's a legend, he's tough, durable, but lets get this kid over by headlining the event with him against BJ Penn. Like you said, this is not the fight that's conducive to squeezing 2 or 3 more fights out of BJ. This wasn't that type of match up you would want to put him up against. If you were going to put him against a tough guy that might be a little more seasoned, you could have looked at a Cub Swanson or Ricardo Limas because although they hit hard and they have some athleticism, they are straight-forward, straight line guys. That would have been much better for BJ to deal with than that wild athleticism, unpredictable reality where you don't know where it's coming from; not at 38 years old.
PC: When the fight started, BJ tried to throw a counter left hook and I think it showcased the true speed disadvantage he was at in that fight. It came off so slow that he just pulled it back. That was one of the most glaring things to me. What was the most glaring thing that stood out in your mind?
RF: He was slow and had no balance. The speed and balance are the first things to go when you're starting to age. That's what it looked like to me, that he was an aged fighter trying to hang on. It's just not his time anymore. He's a legend of the game and I respect the hell out of the guy and I love him, but I don't want to see him fight again. I don't want to see people get over on his name. That's not how this should happen.
PC: I agree. Unfortunately, when we see legends go down, we try to hang on to something; if he could have done this or if this didn't happen, it could have been a different fight. Unfortunately there was nothing I could even hold on to that would encourage me to want to see him back in there.
RF: It was so devastating of a loss that someone even posed the question on Facebook, "As a coach, would you have let him out of the corner for the second round?" And I would have to say...man; you know what, if I had been in his camp since the beginning of his career or a long period of time where you may have had that clout to say, "We are done," then probably I would not have let him out for that second round. Not that they did anything wrong by letting him come out, but that's something I would have looked into and said it just wasn't in the cards that night.
PC: He protested the stoppage a little; I didn't have any issue with the stoppage. You have a kid that just hurt him with a kick and follow up punch raining down hammer fist and I know BJ is documented of having great BJJ, but he's not a slick guy off of his back, especially when he was already badly rocked.
RF: And you know what, the other guy is pretty decent in Jiu Jitsu too. This is not Abu Dhabi. They don't have on a Gi. The fight was stopped at the appropriate time to stop him from suffering from further damage. I'd rather have him arguing the stoppage then we all going, "Damn, why they didn't stop it?"
PC: The scary thing for BJ is he came back out of boredom and he stated that he's not built to sit around on the couch and do nothing. With that being said, do you think this is the last time we have seen BJ Penn in a cage?
RF: I think this is the last we've seen of him in the UFC. If another organization is willing to take that chance, I don't know. I hope not, but you have RIZIN and other organizations that need names, so they may take that opportunity. I understand as a pro athlete, it's what you identify with, it's who you are, and it's what you've been doing your whole life, but at some point, all good things must come to an end. And in the athletic world, you only got so much time. You are on borrowed time from the first day you are a professional. And his time is up and hopefully he recognizes it. I remember after the Nick Diaz fight he said he shouldn't be taking this kind of punishment. I hope he goes back to that thought instead of the thought that he can't sit around on his couch because he's a fighter at heart. Being a fighter at heart, and he has amazing heart and amazing will, but it can get you hurt.
PC: He's already a Hall of Famer. In your eyes, what is BJ Penn's legacy?
RF: Bj is one of the guys that inspired people to do this. You looked at BJ Penn and said, "Man, I want to do this!" He did it at a high level and he would fight all comers, whether it was inside the UFC, outside of the UFC, and no matter what weight. I think he's fought as low as 145 and as high as 193. He did it his way. He is a gifted guy from the beginning that inspired other people and had an entire island behind him like no other.
PC: We went through the wave of Randy Couture going out, Chuck Liddell going out, Rich Franklin, and now we're seeing Tito Ortiz in his last fight on Saturday night and we may have witnessed BJ Penn's last fight. It's a revolving door of talent coming in and the legends kind of have to make room for these guys.
RF: I'm not necessarily surprised by that. Boxing, for years, have had fighters go out on their shields, so it's nothing new to see fighters go out this way. You hate to see it, but it's kind of a right of passage. The sport is still in its infancy. It's like 25 years old and it's still revolving. You knew there would come a time where athletes started taking up the sport. That's what you're seeing with a lot of these younger guys. They are good athletes and if they are dedicated, they can do a lot of damage.
PC: BJ didn't do any post-fight interview, so he didn't really leave us with anything. When would you like to see him make a decision about his future?
RF: I like how Urijah Faber went out. He went out with a great performance, he had some left in the tank, but he was like, "You know what, there are other things that I want to do in life. Let me concentrate on them 100%." So I think he went about it the way you should. At some point...we had talked about it before Randy had fought Machida, we talked kind of off the record and you asked me, "What kind of fighter would you not want Randy to fight at that point?" And I said, "Young guys with athleticism." You can see it in the gym. His timing wasn't there. When you're a guy in your late 30's, early 40's or late 40's if you will, that ain't coming back. It's not like, "Well, I'll take 6 months off and I'll get my timing back." No, you're going to get older. So at this point, the things he used to be able to do and pull off, he can't do anymore. At some point, you can't fool yourself. You gotta be able to look in that mirror and go, "I can't do this. I am selling short what I've done. I can't continue on."
PC: We've seen BJ Penn lose fights before, but now we're starting to see him dominated and that's hard to watch.
RF: Absolutely! You don't want to see that. And he's really one of the good guys that I've met in the sport. I've always enjoyed being around BJ and I would hate to see him go out really badly. Like you said, he's being dominated and you would hate to see him go out any worse than that, like one-punch starched out cold. You don't want that for anybody, especially a guy like that.
PC: I always appreciate your time and as always, it was very well said and we wish BJ Penn the best of luck and thank you for your time.
RF: My pleasure as well. Thanks FightHype as usual!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]