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UFC Fight Night 103: Rodríguez vs. Penn (1/15/2017) - Phoenix, AZ (Talking Stick Resort Arena)


Elsalvajeloco

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UFC Fight Night 103: Rodríguez vs. Penn 
January 15, 2017
Phoenix, AZ (Talking Stick Resort Arena) 

Yair Rodríguez (145) vs. B.J. Penn (146) - Rodríguez, TKO (strikes), R2 (0:24)
Joe Lauzon (155) vs. Marcin Held (156)  - Lauzon, DEC (split)
Court McGee (170) vs. Ben Saunders (170) - Saunders, DEC (unanimous)
John Moraga (126) vs. Sergio Pettis (125) - Pettis, DEC (unanimous)

Fox Sports 1 Preliminary Card:
Devin Powell (155) vs. Drakkar Klose (156) - Klose, DEC (unanimous)
Frankie Saenz (135) vs. Augusto Mendes (135) - Mendes, DEC (split)
Oleksiy Oliynyk (242) vs. Viktor Pešta (239) - Oliynyk, SUB (ezekiel choke), R1 (2:57)
Alex White (155) vs. Tony Martin (155) - Martin, DEC (unanimous)

Fight Pass Preliminary Card:
Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger (115) vs. Nina Ansaroff (116) - Ansaroff, SUB (rear naked choke), R3 (3:39)
Walt Harris (254) vs. Chase Sherman (246) - Harris, TKO (strikes), R2 (2:41)
Joachim Christensen (205) vs. Bojan Mihajlović (205) - Christensen, TKO (punches), R3 (2:05)
Dmitry Smolyakov (257) vs. Cyril Asker (248) - Asker, TKO (punches), R1 (2:41)

Event Bonuses ($50,000)
Performance of the Night: Oleksiy Oliynyk
Performance of the Night: Yair Rodríguez
Fight of the Night: Frankie Saenz vs. Augusto Mendes

Attendance: 11,589
Gate: $913,373
Rating: 1.1 million viewers

Cancelled Fights:
Erik Koch vs. Tony Martin - Injury to Koch
Damian Grabowski vs. Viktor Pešta - Injury to Grabowski
Jussier Formiga vs. Sergio Pettis - Injury to Formiga (Ankle)
Devin Powell vs. Jordan Rinaldi - Injury to Rinaldi
Bryan Caraway vs. Jimmie Rivera - Injury to Caraway
Marlon Vera vs. Jimmie Rivera - Rivera Withdrew from Bout

Edited by Elsalvajeloco
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I honestly think this fight is going to be worse than Rousey vs. Nunes.  Isn't BJ Penn from a wealthy family?  I have no idea why he's still trying to fight, but the last few fights have been pretty sad to watch.  He hasn't won a fight since 2010, and he ain't winning this one.

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21 minutes ago, supremebve said:

I honestly think this fight is going to be worse than Rousey vs. Nunes.  Isn't BJ Penn from a wealthy family?  I have no idea why he's still trying to fight, but the last few fights have been pretty sad to watch.  He hasn't won a fight since 2010, and he ain't winning this one.

Yes, but he is also Hawaiian (just scrap etc.)

I believe it was OSJ in the PVZ vs. Waterson thread who started discussing Sage and why he might not have the motivation or grit to be a fighter. Penn, despite coming from an affluent family as well, is the antithesis of that. He's a fighter trying to reignite his career and go on this one last run, but the sport has passed him by a generation or so. Fifteen years ago, there was no fighter like BJ Penn except for BJ Penn. Now, we have at least 3 or 4 fighters like that per division (especially between men's 135 to 170). They might not be BJJ World champions at like age 21, but they're pretty damn talented. He doesn't just want to be a pioneer or one of the best lightweights of all time. However, a fighter this close to 40 in the lower weight classes is like a 33 year old running back in the NFL or a Thai fighter in boxing/kickboxing who is older than 30. Unless you have some of the darnedest PEDs or just a genetic freak like Herschel Walker, the production is all downhill no matter what coaches you hire or dietary changes you make.

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some friends and i were trying to figure out the last BJ Penn fight that actually mattered. we decided that it was the two fights with Frankie Edgar (both from 2010). Unfortunately, they both mattered more for Edgar, who really launched his career from that moment, more than Penn. An addendum was made that the fight with Fitch (2011) may have mattered, had somebody actually won that fight.

Unfortunately, that was SIX years ago. Can't see this going so well for BJ.

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4 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Yes, but he is also Hawaiian (just scrap etc.)

I believe it was OSJ in the PVZ vs. Waterson thread who started discussing Sage and why he might not have the motivation or grit to be a fighter. Penn, despite coming from an affluent family as well, is the antithesis of that. He's a fighter trying to reignite his career and go on this one last run, but the sport has passed him by a generation or so. Fifteen years ago, there was no fighter like BJ Penn except for BJ Penn. Now, we have at least 3 or 4 fighters like that per division (especially between men's 135 to 170). They might not be BJJ World champions at like age 21, but they're pretty damn talented. He doesn't just want to be a pioneer or one of the best lightweights of all time. However, a fighter this close to 40 in the lower weight classes is like a 33 year old running back in the NFL or a Thai fighter in boxing/kickboxing who is older than 30. Unless you have some of the darnedest PEDs or just a genetic freak like Herschel Walker, the production is all downhill no matter what coaches you hire or dietary changes you make.

BJ's biggest problem is that he's the perfect fighter for 2007.  He has good boxing, great jiu jitsu, and underrated wrestling, but his boxing game isn't dynamic enough to be threatening, everyone's jiu jitsu defense is good enough not to get tapped, and everyone defends takedowns well.  Yair Rodriguez is not going to be worried about anything that BJ brings to the table.  Rodriguez, who may be the #1 prospect(Under top-10 and rising) in the entire sport, and he's basically the most 2017 fighter in the UFC.  Yair Rodriguez knows how to fight guys who fight like BJ Penn, but I'm willing to bet that BJ Penn has no clue how to fight a guy like Rodriguez.  

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BJ Penn's corner on Sunday will consist of Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn, Jason Parillo, and his brother Reagan, who got into a little dustup on an airplane before landing in Phoenix and was arrested.

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He got hit with a front kick, ate a right hand, and then almost got backfisted on the way down. That was...brutal.

Also, I haven't seen someone eat that many kicks in that short amount of time since like Aldo-Faber or Barboza-Lullo.

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I would like it if BJ Penn were just banned from ever stepping foot into a cage ever again.  It looked like he didn't even try to block any strikes tonight.  People fell for his snake oil sales act yet again.  Oh this time he's training with Jackson, he's doing it properly! (see Ariel Helwani)  Nope.

Give Marcin Held at least one more shot because of that crappy decision.

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That went basically exactly as I thought it would.  BJ Penn's chin is too good for his own good, taking that many head kicks can't possibly be good for you.  I don't know why anyone thought this fight was a good idea, it kind of seemed like a bad match up going into it, but I was almost sad watching this.  Rodriguez is a next generation fighter, and Penn is a generation or two behind.  This was basically the final battle in "The Last Samurai," where a bunch of dudes with swords were charging a gatling gun.  BJ Penn's weapons just plain aren't equipped to fight this type of war.

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1 hour ago, supremebve said:

That went basically exactly as I thought it would.  BJ Penn's chin is too good for his own good, taking that many head kicks can't possibly be good for you.  I don't know why anyone thought this fight was a good idea, it kind of seemed like a bad match up going into it, but I was almost sad watching this.  Rodriguez is a next generation fighter, and Penn is a generation or two behind.  This was basically the final battle in "The Last Samurai," where a bunch of dudes with swords were charging a gatling gun.  BJ Penn's weapons just plain aren't equipped to fight this type of war.

The idea was essentially to have the same effect as McGregor vs. Siver two years ago. With the NFL playoffs going on, why not capitalize on having so many people watching TV (although they didn't count on the noon game getting moved to primetime) and get eyeballs on someone they want to promote? This was a showcase fight against someone who casual fans are sorta familiar with. I think with Siver, they were confident enough that McGregor was a draw enough to where they didn't have to dig someone up who people knew. They probably didn't expect it to break UFC television records, but they had a feeling it would do well. Rodriguez demolished Penn and did his part in front of a partisan crowd (much like McGregor in Boston in 2015).

As for the fight, it is pretty much that last part as we've been saying. I feel that against a lesser featherweight (maybe like a Hacran Dias or Sam Sicilia), he would've probably made a decent account for himself and had a good chance of winning. However, he's not going to be afforded the same opponents as a rising prospect or contender. Against someone throwing kicks that fast and that accurate, he had virtually no chance to get any type of rhythm or timing down. Anytime you get kicked in the arm and your whole body shifts from the impact, it's a matter of when the fight is going to end and not if. I'm really surprised Penn didn't get his arm broken. This could have been far worse if Yair decided to just stay back and pick him apart slowly. He had five rounds basically to end Penn's career for good. The front kick and punch combo and followup was a mercy killing.

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Yeah, I pretty much watch every UFC event, and this is the first time I was watching a fight and thought that the entire thing was kind of cruel.  BJ Penn is a legitimate legend of the sport, and they basically put him in a fight that he had no chance to win.  I honestly felt bad for him.

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I would only feel bad for him if Yair was like an injury replacement for someone who BJ clearly could have gotten a win over. If Penn feels like he can upset a prospect like Yair Rodriguez to the point he's talking cash shit, it's evident that this is the opponent he wanted. It's the same with something like Hopkins vs. Joe Smith Jr. Hopkins is one of my favorite fighters, but you have to know when to step away. 

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