BJ Penn dismantled by Yair Rodriguez on return at UFC Fight Night 103 to reinforce why retirement was a sensible option

Penn returned for the first time since 2014 but was on the receiving end of a savage beating as Rodriguez recorded a second-round victory

Yair Rodriguez won his UFC Fight Night bout against the returning BJ Penn (Getty)

It was all about the return of the legend last evening as BJ Penn stepped foot inside the UFC Octagon for the first time since 2014 to take on the upcoming Mexican prospect, Yair Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 103 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Penn’s last performance against Frankie Edgar in 2014 inspired little confidence for a comeback and few gave him a chance of winning before heading into the Octagon last evening.

After an electric walkout and Bruce Buffer’s legendary introduction, the two fighters touched gloves and the fight got underway.

Anyone expecting a fairytale ending was given a rude awakening very early on as Rodriguez set about work quickly. The Mexican punished Penn with multiple kicks to both the body and head as Penn simply absorbed the damage and continued to plod forward.

Penn somehow made it through round one, but on the first exchange in the second it was the beginning of the end.

Rodriguez dropped Penn with a front kick and follow up punch and from there he swarmed on Penn dishing out hammer fists until the referee John McCarthy intervened and stopped the fight after twenty-four seconds of round two.

It was the savage beatdown that many thought it would be with Rodriguez landing 55 significant strikes compared to Penn’s 4. Thankfully, Penn walked away from the Octagon seemingly in one-piece and he embraced some of the fans cageside as he walked to the back.

BJ Penn's return to the UFC ended in a comprehensive defeat (Getty)

Lauzon picks up controversial win over Held

The co-main of the evening featured a lightweight bout between Joe Lauzon and Polish fighter, Marcin Held. The contest started at a million miles an hour and the first five-minutes saw both men land heavy strikes and scramble for position expertly on the mat.

Held clearly won the second round as he took Lauzon down multiple times with well-timed double leg takedowns and he worked well in top position raining down ground and pound while threatening submission attempts.

It was likely all square heading into the third round, but it turned out to be a near mirror image of the second as Held once again dominated it with two very well timed takedowns. It looked like the Polish man was going to get the decision, but the judges seemingly weren’t watching the same fight as everyone else.

To the shock of everyone watching around the world, Lauzon picked up the split decision win taking the scorecards 27-30, 29-28, 29-28. Speaking afterward, Lauzon said he 100-percent disagreed with the decision and that the fight should’ve been scored for Held.

Rodriguez dominated from the start and controlled Penn with a number of punches and head-kicks (Getty)

In other news …

Elsewhere, Sergio Pettis and John Moraga opened the main card with some high paced flyweight action. Both men stood toe-to-toe from the outset and slugged it out on the feet showing little intention to take the fight to the mat. It was a close fight, but Pettis’combinations and distance management ultimately gave him the advantage and the decision on all three scorecards29-28, 29-28, 30-27.

Also on the main card, the two unorthodox welterweights Court McGee and Ben Saunders went at it in the third fight from the top. In a contest that was fought very evenly across three rounds, Saunders caught the eye of the judges and he got the nod on all three scorecards 29-28.

Rodriguez celebrated with fans afterwards while Penn appeared to give his final farewell (Getty)

UFC Fight Night 103 Full Results

Main Card

Yair Rodriguez def. B.J. Penn via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 0:24

Joe Lauzon def. Marcin Held via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)

Ben Saunders def Court McGee via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Sergio Pettis def. John Moraga via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Preliminary Card

Drakkar Klose def. Devin Powell via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Augusto Mendes def. Frankie Saenz via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Oleksiy Oliynyk def. Viktor Pešta via Submission (Ezekiel Choke), Round 1, 2:57

Tony Martin def. Alex White via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Early Preliminary Card

Nina Ansaroff def. Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger via Submission (RNC), Round 3, 3:39

Walt Harris def. Chase Sherman via KO (Knee and punches), Round 2, 2:41

Joachim Christensen def. Bojan Mihajlovic via KO (uppercut), Round 3, 2:05

Cyril Asker def. Dmitrii Smoliakov via TKO (punches), Round 1, 2:41