UFC’s Penn exits as he entered: humbly

An emotional BJ Penn spent several minutes answering questions during a postfight news conference Sunday night at Mandalay Bay before he just couldn’t continue.

The 35-year-old UFC superstar, who had been completely dominated by Frankie Edgar in a featherweight bout just an hour or so earlier, dropped his head on the dais and sobbed.

He regained his thoughts moments later, but the message was clear.

Penn knew his career was over.

“This is the end. I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why did you step back in the octagon after the beating Rory MacDonald gave you?’ ” Penn said of a loss in his previous fight in December 2012. “The reason is I really needed to find out. If I didn’t make this night happen for myself, I would have always wondered. I would have gone back and forth and begged (UFC president Dana White) to let me get back in. I would have complained to everyone, ‘I could have done it again. I could have done it again.’ Now, I know for sure that I can’t.

“I guess I needed some closure.”

Edgar provided that for Penn, who cited being one of only two fighters in history to hold the UFC belt in two weight classes as his greatest achievement in the sport.

Penn, once so incredibly gifted with natural ability that he was dubbed “The Prodigy,” was simply outclassed.

He has always been among the most popular fighters in the sport, a fact that was abundantly clear on Sunday night as the crowd at “The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale” card at Mandalay Bay cheered and screamed every time he was shown on the screen leading up to his main event bout.

Penn thinks there was a reason he was so beloved.

“People could connect with me,” he said. “They felt I was just a normal human being. In the offseason, I was overweight. I was just trying my best like anybody else. I think my appeal was, ‘Here he is, a normal guy like us, and he’s giving it his all.’ ”

■ DRYSDALE DEBUT SUCCESSFUL — Las Vegas light heavyweight Robert Drysdale has been inside the UFC octagon many times before, but had never done so as a fighter.

That changed on Sunday night as Drysdale was victorious in his UFC debut, taking just 2:03 to choke out Keith Berish on “The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale.”

The 32-year-old is one of the top grapplers in the world and has served as a jiu-jitsu instructor to many MMA fighters over the years.

He said the fact he was walked to the cage to work in the corner of so many UFC competitors over the years may have contributed to how relaxed he was on Sunday.

“I’ve walked that walk probably 100 times before I ever competed in there myself,” he said. “My career kind of went backwards, I guess. I started as a coach before I ever became a fighter. Maybe that helps some.”

He has had nothing but success since taking up MMA in 2010. Drysdale has submitted all seven opponents inside of three minutes.

Drysdale has competed in and won many of the most prestigious grappling events in the world and said he felt no nerves in his UFC debut.

“I heard all the time how different it was going to be to fight in this big arena with so many people watching, but I just didn’t get that it all,” he said. “It felt like the same amount of pressure to me as when I was a white belt competing in a jiu-jitsu tournament. I felt good in there.”

Drysdale signed with the UFC last year, but was forced from a fight in August due to a staph infection. He then planned to fight in November, but an out-of-competition test from the Nevada Athletic Commission showed an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio.

Drysdale took responsibility for the failed test, but pinned the blame mostly on confusion.

He said he was prescribed testosterone replacement therapy and reported his treatment to both the UFC and the commission. He wasn’t actually approved, however, by the commission for the treatment that was legal at the time and has since been banned in combat sports.

“I applied to the commission before I ever picked up my prescription. I look at it as a bureaucratic issue. I thought I had a license and I didn’t. It was my fault for not understanding the process,” he said.

Drysdale said he hoped to be in action again before the end of the year.

■ WSOF 11 — Las Vegas-based World Series of FIghting held an event in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Saturday.

Justin Gaethje retained the organization’s lightweight belt with a second-round knockout of Nick Newell in the main event.

Gaethje peppered Newell, who was born without his left hand and most of his left forearm, with right hooks. It was Newell’s first loss in 12 pro fights.

Also on the card, former UFC stars Jon Fitch and Melvin Guillard earned victories.

Fitch took a unanimous decision over UFC veteran Dennis Hallman in a middleweight bout and Guillard made a successful WSOF debut with a second-round knockout of Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.