The last time the MMA world saw B.J. Penn get his hand raised in victory was eight years ago, at UFC 123 in November 2010. “The Prodigy,” at the time, snapped a two-fight skid with a first-round knockout win over fellow legend Matt Hughes, with a $50,000 bonus for Knockout of the Night honors.
Now, the UFC two-division champion is on a five-fight losing streak, all of which were unpleasant to watch. The 39-year-old Hawaii native is now slated to face Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist Ryan Hall in a lightweight tiff at UFC 232 to close out the year.
Some observers see this fight as a good style matchup for Penn. Bas Rutten, however, believes otherwise, and sees a tough fight ahead.
“That’s going to be a tough fight for him as well,” Rutten said on a recent episode of the MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting).
Rutten bases his sentiment on how the game had changed greatly, comparing his contemporaries during his time to the fighters of today.
“Let’s face it, man, these young guys right now, they’re so good, they’re so in shape, and they know everything,” he explained. “In my time, there were still guys, I was good on the ground, I was good on the feet, and in my time, you could get away with that. There were a lot of guys who were strikers, or they were submission guys, but not a lot of fighters had all three components, I never was a good wrestler by the way.
“But now all these guys are phenomenal everywhere, they have a full gas tank. Nobody runs out of gas anymore like the old times.”
But “El Guapo” is not counting out Penn just yet, as long as the right training methods would be put in place.
“BJ is a guy that, if he goes to a camp and he has a guy that he listens to, who tell him no, you’re going to have to do an extra round, as long as he is not in control of the training, I think, maybe in this fight he’ll do really good and perform really well.”
Penn did involve himself with renowned camps in the last few years, having trained with Greg Jackson in his return from retirement in 2016. He currently works with boxing coach Jason Parillo, who is also a mentor to the likes of Michael Bisping, Cris Cyborg, and Tito Ortiz.
UFC 232 is slated for December 29th in Las Vegas. The card will be headlined by a light heavyweight rematch between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson.