UFC 237 was this past weekend which highlighted a strawweight championship bout between Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade. Yes, I could talk about the “was it a spike? Wasn’t it a spike?” But I want to talk about, when is it time to call it a career. Who should make that call?
One didn’t look like a UFC legend anymore
Three of the fights on the card had legends of the sport fighting on it. We had Bj Penn, Jose Aldo, and Anderson Silva all fighting the same night. This would have been a super stacked card with them alone 10 years ago. Unfortunately, like I brought up in my last article, Father Time has caught up to them. Watching Bj Penn just get picked apart by Clay Guida was hard to watch. Nothing against Guida but he’s no young buck himself and not a top guy going for the belt. This should have been a close fight. By the end of the fight, Bj looked like a guy from the streets all beaten up and not a legend of the sport.
But UFC’s Silva is still entertaining
Then there was Anderson Silva. Now his fights haven’t been as brutal to watch as Bj Penn’s have been, but they’re almost there. You have Silva, who hasn’t won a fight in two and a half years, who still can somewhat entertain. Problem is at what expense? His fight at UFC 237 was stopped because he took a leg kick, which dropped him. Afterwards, he said was hurt going into the fight. The fight before that Israel Adesanya just picked him apart. How much damage should he take before someone says “Ok, Anderson? You really need to consider your options. Fighting shouldn’t be one of them.”? Not saying cut him because he put his time in but anyone else with his latest record would have been gone.
What about Jose Aldo?
As far as Jose Aldo, it’s not his time yet to consider retirement but feels like it’s getting close. He’s 3-3 since losing the belt to Connor McGregor. At 32, he may only have one last title run before he becomes the new Penn/Silva. If he happens to put one together it will take a year, which will take him to 33 years old. Also, need to factor in the talk of him taking all of 2020 off as well.
So who’s to blame for letting these careers go on in the UFC?
Well, I ran a poll on twitter over @STSportsPodcast and it was 50/50 between Ufc and other. The “other” option, fans commented that it’s the fighters fault for sticking around. I personally blame The fighting commissions. UFC slightly is in the wrong by still booking them, but they’re still running a business. The fight commission should watch some of their prior fights. They need to see how bad these guys are getting injured. I know it was a movie, but we all seen “Balboa” Rocky had to plea to get a license after getting denied. It was because he took so much damage over the years. That’s what’s going to continue to happen if someone doesn’t speak up for fighters who don’t know when enough is enough.
So hopefully, something changes in order to really make sure these fighters can compete at a high level and not end up with long term damage more than they already have. Until next week this is your good friend Jimbo signing out.
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