While former two-division UFC champion BJ Penn had been on the shelf for 19 months and already lost to Frankie Edgar twice in 2010, diehard fans refused to count him out a trilogy bout at The Ultimate Fighter Season 19 Finale on Sunday.

Unfortunately, “The Prodigy” looked like a shell of his former self at best, and was brutally beaten to a pulp by Edgar before getting stopped for the first time in his career in the third round.

The loss marked Penn’s third loss in a row, with an unfathomable 1-5(1) record in his past seven bouts.

After hinting at the subject immediately after the bout in an interview with color commentator Jon Anik, the Hawaiian fan favorite formally announced his retirement at the post-fight press conference, per MMA Fighting.

"This is the end," Penn said. "I'm thinking to myself, why did you step back into the Octagon after the beating that Rory MacDonald gave you?”

“And 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 always went back and forth on whether I should go back in. I needed some closure."

Penn captured his first UFC championship when he choked out Matt Hughes at UFC 46 in January 2004, his first fight ever at welterweight.

The highly-touted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt later earned the 155-pound title against Joe Stevenson at UFC 80 in January 2008, again winning via his patented rear-naked choke.

While Penn rides off into the sunset with just a 16-10-2 professional record, he is one of the pioneers of the sports and regarded as one of the best lightweights of all time.

Therefore, he is a shoe-in UFC Hall of Famer before the year’s end.