Jason Parillo Says UFC Will Have To Force BJ Penn To Retire
Jason Parillo Says UFC Will Have To Force BJ Penn To Retire
MMA legend BJ Penn's striking coach Jason Parillo shares his thoughts on the former champion's future.
After suffering the type of lopsided demolition dealt by the hands and feet of Yair Rodriguez, most men would've accepted it was time to hang up the gloves. BJ Penn is no normal man.
Immediately following a prolonged beatdown by the Mexican prodigy at UFC Fight Night 103 on Sunday, Penn did no post-fight media. Instead, the MMA legend released a short statement a few days after.
"Congrats to Yair Rodriguez for a great performance. I had a great camp and great weight cut, no excuses," Penn wrote on his website.
While those have been the only words from directly from Penn, his striking coach Jason Parillo joined Submission Radio to talk about the defeat and what he believes the former lightweight and welterweight king's next steps would be.
"You know, it was something we've been through before," said Parillo about the atmosphere in the dressing room after the fight. "He was disappointed obviously, of course he was disappointed. Like we talked about before the fight, once you get under those lights and you have those thousands of people it's just a whole different kind of pressure.
"It's an endurance in itself. Once you've been off two and a half years it's an endurance to deal with that. The pressure and the adrenaline is going to come because some guy is going to try and kill you and you're trying to kill him.
"There's no way to simulate other than to fight and he felt rough. He said he felt good and felt great. I've never seen him look that good I'll be honest with you. He said to me 'Jason, I feel good. Normally I'm worried about the way I feel, but I feel amazing.'"
Parillo pointed towards Penn's lack of time in the Octagon in the past few years as one of the main reasons things went like they did on Sunday evening. Contrary to what Dominick Cruz would say, Parillo believes that ring rust is a very real thing.
"You can't simulate a quick, young 24-year-old kid," Parillo said. "You can do as much sparring and I'll say it over and over again, but rust is real and I've heard fighters say that ring rust isn't real, but that's bullsh*t. Maybe not for you tough guy, but it's there, especially when you haven't had success leading up to that ring rust.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BPS0tTIjDhx/" hide_caption="0"]
"BJ Penn is the only guy I know that hasn't won since 2010 and taken a fight against a guy No. 4 in the division. You don't see a lot of guys do it, but [the UFC] know he won't say no if they ask him and that he will take on anybody and that he will prefer to take on top 10 guys. I'd love to be able to be the guy to pick the fight, but that's not my job and that's not my position."
Asked whether he believed Penn would want to fight again, Parillo said the scrappy Hawaiian would never turn down a fight. Furthermore, Parillo insisted it was going to be up to the UFC to stop offering him fights if they wanted to keep him outside of the Octagon.
"This is BJ Penn, if you think BJ Penn there's only one thing you're going to be thinking about and that's the fighter BJ Penn," Parillo said. "That's what he is and they put a camera on me immediately after the fight and I said I'd encourage him to think about doing something else.
"The promotion has to say no to him before he will say he never wants to fight again. I'm just saying that, I'm just guessing. Do his family want him to fight again? I don't know. I haven't talked to anybody. Do I want him to fight again? I never want him to fight again. If he fights again I want it to be a 38-year-old man who's lost his last couple of fights and I want to see if there is a fight there."
While Parillo made his personal stance on the matter known, that was pretty much the only part of the situation with any type of clarity. Penn's coach believes the matchmaking issue would have to be addressed for another fight to happen, and if that should come to pass his support will fall where it always has.
"In all reality, it's BJ Penn and most his fans don't want to see him fight anymore because again they are looking at it from the fan aspect and not understanding the wolves he's getting thrown to or the business aspect of the fight game, the ignorant ones," Parillo said. "Who knows what BJ wants to do, but whatever he does I will support him. If I see him in the gym again and it looks like he shouldn't, I'll be recommending, 'No, don't fight anymore.'"
Immediately following a prolonged beatdown by the Mexican prodigy at UFC Fight Night 103 on Sunday, Penn did no post-fight media. Instead, the MMA legend released a short statement a few days after.
"Congrats to Yair Rodriguez for a great performance. I had a great camp and great weight cut, no excuses," Penn wrote on his website.
While those have been the only words from directly from Penn, his striking coach Jason Parillo joined Submission Radio to talk about the defeat and what he believes the former lightweight and welterweight king's next steps would be.
"You know, it was something we've been through before," said Parillo about the atmosphere in the dressing room after the fight. "He was disappointed obviously, of course he was disappointed. Like we talked about before the fight, once you get under those lights and you have those thousands of people it's just a whole different kind of pressure.
"It's an endurance in itself. Once you've been off two and a half years it's an endurance to deal with that. The pressure and the adrenaline is going to come because some guy is going to try and kill you and you're trying to kill him.
"There's no way to simulate other than to fight and he felt rough. He said he felt good and felt great. I've never seen him look that good I'll be honest with you. He said to me 'Jason, I feel good. Normally I'm worried about the way I feel, but I feel amazing.'"
Parillo pointed towards Penn's lack of time in the Octagon in the past few years as one of the main reasons things went like they did on Sunday evening. Contrary to what Dominick Cruz would say, Parillo believes that ring rust is a very real thing.
"You can't simulate a quick, young 24-year-old kid," Parillo said. "You can do as much sparring and I'll say it over and over again, but rust is real and I've heard fighters say that ring rust isn't real, but that's bullsh*t. Maybe not for you tough guy, but it's there, especially when you haven't had success leading up to that ring rust.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BPS0tTIjDhx/" hide_caption="0"]
"BJ Penn is the only guy I know that hasn't won since 2010 and taken a fight against a guy No. 4 in the division. You don't see a lot of guys do it, but [the UFC] know he won't say no if they ask him and that he will take on anybody and that he will prefer to take on top 10 guys. I'd love to be able to be the guy to pick the fight, but that's not my job and that's not my position."
Asked whether he believed Penn would want to fight again, Parillo said the scrappy Hawaiian would never turn down a fight. Furthermore, Parillo insisted it was going to be up to the UFC to stop offering him fights if they wanted to keep him outside of the Octagon.
"This is BJ Penn, if you think BJ Penn there's only one thing you're going to be thinking about and that's the fighter BJ Penn," Parillo said. "That's what he is and they put a camera on me immediately after the fight and I said I'd encourage him to think about doing something else.
"The promotion has to say no to him before he will say he never wants to fight again. I'm just saying that, I'm just guessing. Do his family want him to fight again? I don't know. I haven't talked to anybody. Do I want him to fight again? I never want him to fight again. If he fights again I want it to be a 38-year-old man who's lost his last couple of fights and I want to see if there is a fight there."
While Parillo made his personal stance on the matter known, that was pretty much the only part of the situation with any type of clarity. Penn's coach believes the matchmaking issue would have to be addressed for another fight to happen, and if that should come to pass his support will fall where it always has.
"In all reality, it's BJ Penn and most his fans don't want to see him fight anymore because again they are looking at it from the fan aspect and not understanding the wolves he's getting thrown to or the business aspect of the fight game, the ignorant ones," Parillo said. "Who knows what BJ wants to do, but whatever he does I will support him. If I see him in the gym again and it looks like he shouldn't, I'll be recommending, 'No, don't fight anymore.'"