After his sixth straight loss, UFC president Dana White hopes B.J. Penn finally call it quits.
Penn, a UFC Hall of Famer and former welterweight and lightweight champion, fell to Ryan Hall via first-round submission in the first televised preliminary bout at UFC 232 on Saturday. The event took place at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
With the loss, Penn is now on a six-fight skid and hasn’t won in the Octagon since 2010, when he defeated ex-welterweight titleholder Matt Hughes early in the first round. Penn returned from a three-year layoff in early 2017 only to lose to rising featherweight star Yair Rodriguez by TKO. He followed that up with a disappointing decision loss to Dennis Siver, and now the early stoppage to Hall.
Penn has retired from MMA multiple times before, but after his latest setback, White wants to see “The Prodigy” hang up his gloves for good.
“B.J.’s a legend in this sport,” White said at the UFC 232 post-fight press conference. “He went down to Brazil, trained hard for this thing, got into great shape. His camp was raving about him. He got caught in a submission tonight. B.J. Penn is one of the legends of the sport and helped build this company. I would love to see B.J. retire.”
Penn has yet to publicly comment on the loss to Hall or what his future holds.
Penn won titles at both 170 and 155 pounds, and is considered one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time.
“B.J. Penn has nothing left to prove. I say it all the time — fighting is a young man’s game. This is not for older men. B.J. is a multiple-time world champion in multiple divisions, and he’s got nothing to prove. People love him, and he’s a legend, and he’s done it all. There’s nothing left to do, in my opinion.”
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