10 MMA Fights That Were The Beginning Of The End For Legends

4. B.J. Penn Vs. Rory MacDonald - UFC On Fox 5: Henderson Vs. Diaz

UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn is one of the very best lightweight fighters to have graced the world of MMA, and he's seen as one of the pivotal figures in having lightweight competitors taken seriously as genuine box office attractions.

Unfortunately for The Prodigy, these days he's more likely to be seen in drunken bar fights in Hawaii than having any success in the Octagon.

It’s tricky to pinpoint exactly when the downward spiral of B.J. Penn’s fighting days first really began. For sure, he’d suffered losses before – to legendary names such as Georges St-Pierre, Matt Hughes, and Lyoto Machida – but Penn’s career seemed to really hit a point of no return in his December 2012 loss to Rory MacDonald. A loss in which MacDonald not only had full control of the fight, but he even had time to openly mock Penn during the contest.

Even before that, 2010’s UFC 112 saw B.J. surprisingly lose to an emerging Frankie Edgar. That was seen as somewhat of a shock result that was down to Penn taking Edgar lightly. A rematch four months later, though, had Frankie once again getting the W over B.J. Penn.

A glimmer of light did emerge after Penn got a UFC 123 win over longtime rival Matt Hughes, yet a draw against Jon Fitch and a subsequent loss to Nick Diaz again threw up questions over Penn. Those questions were answered in a sad fashion when a young Rory MacDonald got a unanimous decision victory over The Prodigy on that UFC on Fox special.

Since then, B.J. Penn has gone on to lose five further fights - with the hope being that the Hawaiian has now finally decided to call time on his iconic career.

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