5 times that stepping out of retirement proved to be a bad idea for UFC legends

#2. Carlos Condit – former interim UFC welterweight champion

Carlos Condit struggled throughout his return from retirement

When Carlos Condit announced his retirement following his 2016 loss to Demian Maia, most UFC fans could hardly blame him.

‘The Natural Born Killer’ had been involved in some of the craziest wars in UFC history. After returning from a serious knee injury in 2015, he began 2016 with probably his wildest fight yet.

He fought Robbie Lawler for the UFC welterweight title. Despite leaving everything in the octagon, he came up inches short, and failed to claim the gold. To see him fall so easily to Maia after that was hardly shocking. It appeared he simply had nothing left following his war with Lawler.

However, after just over a year of retirement, Condit announced his return to the UFC. He made his comeback at UFC 219 in December 2017. However, despite having over a year of recovery under his belt, he struggled just as badly as he’d done against Maia, falling to a loss to Neil Magny.

From there, ‘The Natural Born Killer’ stuck around, but lost his next two fights, taking his run of losses dating back to the Lawler clash to five.

Condit did manage to stem the tide in 2020, beating both Court McGee and Matt Brown, but flashes of the old ‘Natural Born Killer’ were few and far between.

This September saw Condit suffer another defeat, this time at the hands of Max Griffin. He has since announced his return to retirement. Essentially, he would probably have been best to stay there in the first place.

---

#1. BJ Penn – former UFC lightweight champion

BJ Penn damaged his UFC legacy with a string of ill-advised returns from retirement.

When BJ Penn initially announced his retirement following his loss to Nick Diaz at UFC 137 in October 2011, it felt like a smart, if curious decision to make.

Penn had begun the year by taking one of the UFC’s best welterweights – Jon Fitch – to a draw. However, his loss to Diaz was soul-destroying, to the point that the Hawaiian vowed he couldn’t return to his family looking so badly beaten up.

Unfortunately, ‘The Prodigy’ then made three returns from retirement – each one worse than the last. He has now damaged his legacy badly, despite being recognized as an all-time great.

His first return took place in December 2012, but ended after he suffered a one-sided beating at the hands of Rory MacDonald. That seemed to be that for his career, but surprisingly, 2014 saw him return for a run at 145 lbs for the first time.

That run started badly with a loss to Frankie Edgar. Again, Penn appeared to head into retirement after the loss. Two and a half years later, though, ‘The Prodigy’ returned again. This time, the UFC seemed to realize the diminishing returns of his comebacks, and seemed content to use him to build younger fighters.

Sure enough, the Hawaiian suffered a one-sided loss to Yair Rodriguez in his return bout. Since then, he has stuck around for three more losses before the UFC released him in 2019.

Penn ended his UFC tenure with an insane seven losses in a row, doubling the number of defeats he had suffered in his career before that. He remains a legend, but he would have been far more respected had he just stayed away from the octagon following the loss to Diaz.