B.J. Penn retires after TUF 19 loss, one fight too late

B.J. Penn should not have been in the octagon on Sunday night.

At 35 years old and 19 months removed from his last fight, one that took place two weight classes higher no less, Penn looked every bit a fighter coming out of a retirement to prove one last point. 

He didn't prove it.

Yes, he became the incredibly rare four-division fighter, adding featherweight to his resume along with lightweight, welterweight and middleweight, and yes, he lasted three rounds and made the cut to 145 without issue.

But all he proved was that when a fighter decides to walk away, it's usually the right decision. Penn had done that before but returned to be summarily dispatched by Frankie Edgar by third-round TKO, the third time Edgar has dispatched him. 

With the loss, Penn's career record is now 16-10-2, though that matters little considering he's faced perhaps the toughest strength of schedule of any fighter ever. Only five of his professional fights even came outside of the UFC, and 12 of his 28 fights had a title on the line. Returning for an ill-advised loss doesn't tarnish Penn's incredible legacy, really, but it does leave fans with a sour taste as he exits, with just a single win in his final seven fights. 

Nobody wants to see a legend go out that way, Penn included.

"I shouldn't have come back," Penn said in the cage following the fight. "I shouldn't have been in the ring tonight."

He would continue later, making it clear that yes, he is retiring:

This is the end. I'm thinking to myself, 'Why did you step back in the Octagon after the beating Rory MacDonald gave you?' The reason is I really needed to find out. If I didn't make this night happen, I would have always wondered.

I would have complained to everyone, 'I could have done it again! I could have done it again!' Now, I know for sure that I can't.

A legend in the sport and one of the top lightweights ever - not to mention one of just two UFC fighters to hold a belt in two different classes - Penn going out as he did disappointed some of the fighters he helped cultivate the modern sport for.

Naturally, there was a great deal of reverence paid to Penn after the fight, too, and it's well-deserved. Penn is one of the greatest of all time, and here's hoping that time makes it such that it's his championships and his wars that are remembered, and the final image of him is simply highlight reel fodder and not something lasting.