Nick Diaz Didn’t “Retire” BJ Penn

So first of all, let’s assume that BJ Penn’s decision to retire at UFC 137 actually holds up. Considering that it seemed to be a spur-of-the-moment decision based upon the result of the fight, as well as that BJ is just 32 years old, that seems like a big “if”, but let’s go with it for the moment. Assuming that the retirement sticks, let’s get one thing straight:

Nick Diaz did not “retire” BJ Penn.

Let’s not forget how silly the notion of a fighter forcing another to retire is, in the first place. I mean, this assumption forces you to believe that because Fighter A got a whooping from Fighter B, he’s just going to quit for good. Here’s my thing, though: you can’t retire a guy who isn’t ready to quit. Heath Herring was, at some level, ready to be done fighting before he got in there with Brock Lesnar. Chuck Liddell certainly had already looked at the hard realities of his situation before he was suddenly dropped by Rich Franklin. And BJ Penn definitely had thought about whether to keep on competing before Nick Diaz landed approximately 495 punches to his face within the last two rounds of their fight.

Penn doesn’t ever have to fight Diaz again. Furthermore, it’s not as if he was having a hard time with him in the first round, right? So he’s going to retire because…why? Because Diaz beat him up? Hell, so did Georges St. Pierre, and Penn was still trying to work his way to a third fight with GSP.

No, Diaz didn’t retire Penn. In fact, Penn’s decision has nothing to do with anything that has taken place within the Octagon…at least, not in the way that you would expect.

Penn simply doesn’t have the desire to train anymore. That’s the problem, that’s the dilemma and that’s why he may ultimately never step foot in the cage again as a competitor. At some point in that fight Saturday night, Penn reached the realization that many of the fans watching undoubtedly reached; he realized that if he didn’t have the passion to train the way he needs to, it doesn’t matter how bad he wants to win once the cage door shuts.

This isn’t 2002, and BJ’s not 23 years old. He can’t just train when he feels like it, stroll to the cage at fight time and get by on talent alone. The sport has changed, and he’s fighting triathletes with jiu-jitsu black belts and legitimate boxing skills now. He’s fighting elite athletes who have turned training camps into a science. He’s facing top wrestlers with submission defense who seemingly never get tired or make dumb mistakes to capitalize on.

This isn’t a “hate on BJ Penn” article. Much the opposite, actually. I will firmly stand in opposition of all the talk over the last day or so that Penn “needs” to retire or that the sport has somehow passed him by. That’s b.s., actually. I don’t care what his record is in his last five fights or whether his last convincing win was against Old Matt Hughes. You know why? Because BJ hasn’t lost it yet (unless by “it” you mean the desire to put in the time to prepare for fights properly). Not by a long shot.

BJ won the first round against Diaz on Saturday night. He also won the first round against Jon Fitch and Frankie Edgar the first time they faced one another. He’s lost the first round of a fight just two times in his last 13 UFC appearances. One time was against Georges St. Pierre and the second time was in his second scrap with Frankie Edgar. That doesn’t sound like a washed up fighter to me.

If you can watch Penn-Diaz and see anything other than a guy who was clearly in control of the fight simply gassing and becoming unable to keep up the pace for most of round two and all of round three, you were probably in Diaz’s corner Saturday night. Penn proved in the first round that he could handle Diaz, just as he proved that he could handle Fitch when they fought. You know, the guy who has been the #2 welterweight in the world for about the last four years.

In the UFC 137 teleconference, Penn made a telling statement when he said, “One day, I want to fight 100 more fights, and the next day I don’t know if I want to do this anymore.” Now, he tried to make less of his comment by saying that he thinks a lot of fighters feel that way, but I think that list is a little shorter than he’s letting on, and includes few current UFC fighters other than fellow UFC 137 competitor Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.

Do most fighters have days where they don’t know how much longer they can keep going through the grind of training camps, the injuries and disappointments? Of course, but those guys push through that feeling and make sure they show up at the gym the next day, regardless. Whether Penn simply has had enough talent to coast by in the past or whatever the reason is, he has not always reacted in that way. That’s why you’ll regularly see Penn come out and win the first round of a fight before simply disappearing and giving away the contest later on. You know, like he did against GSP the first time. Or Hughes the second time. Or the other night against a trash-talking brawler from Stockton, CA that you may have heard of.

Part of the problem is that Penn came up in an era where a, ahem, prodigy could cut corners in training camp and still carve out a dominant career (see also: Hughes, Matt). That era has passed and most of the fighters who lived that way are now done, Penn apparently included. But you can’t underestimate the effect that this mentality had on BJ’s career. If Randy Couture extended his career and experienced great success because he over-achieved, Penn was the exact opposite, losing fights that he should have won and ultimately calling it quits at age 32 because he can no longer compete without a solid training camp and doesn’t have the drive to make such a camp happen.

So, don’t say that Diaz retired Penn. It’s a feather in Diaz’s proverbial cap that he didn’t earn and doesn’t deserve. Penn retired himself, because he just isn’t interested in making the sacrifices anymore. Mostly though, I think Penn retired because he knows he had no business getting battered around like that against Diaz on Saturday night. Like he said after the fight, he can’t keep going home all bruised and busted up. At the same time, he isn’t willing to do what he has to do in order to be the one doing the bruising and battering. It’s a shame, but at least he’s being honest.

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Tags: BJ Penn, Georges St. Pierre, Jon Fitch, Nick Diaz, UFC, UFC 137