BJ Penn announced his retirement from professional mixed martial arts on Sunday after losing to Frankie Edgar at “The Ultimate Fighter” finale.

BJ Penn Ends Career With Loss To Frankie Edgar

Penn, 35, joined the UFC in May 2001 and won his first UFC championship in 2003. He would go on to win one more, becoming one of only two fighters in UFC history to win two UFC titles in two different weight classes. The skilled fighter faced opponents at featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight, earning championships as lightweight and welterweight. He also fought as a heavyweight against Lyoto Machida.

On Sunday, Penn got in the ring for one final fight with Frankie Edgar – Penn had lost to Edgar twice before – and suffered a crushing third-round TKO loss. This had been Penn’s first fight since 2012, when he lost to Rory MacDonald.

BJ Penn Announces Retirement

Following the loss, Penn announced that it would be his final fight.

“This is the end. I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why did you step back into the ring after the beating that Rory MacDonald gave you?’ The reason is because I really needed to find out… I guess, I just needed some closure,” Penn told reporters during the post-fight press conference.

Penn elaborated, saying that he needed one last round in the ring to see if he could continue his fighting career, and, sadly, he learned that he wouldn’t be able to continue.

“The biggest regret would have been if I didn’t get in the ring tonight because I’d always wonder…’man, I could have did it again.’ And, now I know for sure that I can’t,” Penn said.

At the press conference, Edgar admitted that his victory was bittersweet because he had an idea that his win would mean Penn’s retirement was coming.

“BJ will always be mentioned with my name…when I first got into this sport, BJ was the guy, you know, and he did a lot for the lightweights so I think we all owe BJ a lot,” Edgar said.

When asked about his UFC legacy, Penn began to get emotional, saying, “My best moment in the UFC, I guess, now that I look back, I’m going to have to look at my biggest accomplishment and it’s the two belts in the two weight classes, and I really wanted to see if I could make it three.”

Penn was then overcome with emotion and put his microphone down before UFC President Dana White took over, saying, “He’s one of the best 155-pounders of all time. He helped build that weight class and he was responsible for helping build the UFC. That’s his legacy.”

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Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.