EXCLUSIVE | Phil Baroni weighs in on BJ Penn’s loss to Yair Rodriguez

Former two division UFC champion BJ Penn returned to the octagon at last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 103 event in Phoenix, Arizona.

The UFC Hall of Famer, Penn, squared off with surging featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez in the evening’s main event.

Unfortunately for fans of “The Prodigy”, after a decent opening two minutes, Rodriguez caught Penn with a hard kick to the body that appeared to stun the UFC legend.

Yair followed up that strike with a relentless barrage of kicks before the horn sounded to end the opening round of action.

Then shortly in to the second round, Rodriguez caught BJ with a front kick followed by a punch that sent Penn down to the canvas.

The combination marked the first time that BJ Penn had been knocked down in his illustrious career and Rodriguez was quick to capitalize on the historic moment.

“Pantera” followed up with some solid ground and pound and after a heavy volume of strikes the referee stepped in and stopped the contest.

Former UFC fighter and Penn’s long time friend, Phil Baroni, recently spoke with BJPENN.com’s Chris Taylor about “The Prodigy’s” loss to Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 103.

Baroni believes that Penn can still be one of the best fighters on the planet, but thinks that BJ should learn some new tricks and fight some mid-tier fighters before jumping in against another top ten opponent like Yair Rodriguez.

“That was a tough comeback fight for BJ. No matter how much you spar and train in the gym it is a different game when you step in under the bright lights of the main event for the UFC.”

He continued:

“I want to see BJ come back man. Hopefully go and train at Jackson’s for a full camp. If BJ could incorporate a solid double-leg takedown into his arsenal and maybe some new kicks he could still be one of the very best in my opinion.”

Do you agree with Phil Baroni’s assessment? Would you like to see BJ Penn return for at least one more fight against a mid-tier UFC fighter? Sound off in the comments section!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/22/2017.