Ryan Hall Defeats BJ Penn via Epic 1st-Round Submission at UFC 232

Ryan Hall continues to make his way through UFC legends, knocking off BJ Penn by first-round submission at UFC 232 on Saturday night in Inglewood, California.

Penn was able to avoid being baited by Hall, who was on the ground for most of the first two minutes. After the referee stood Hall up, he went on the offensive by locking in a heel hook that forced Penn to tap out immediately.

"Just to compete against BJ is a surreal experience," Hall said on the FS1 broadcast after his win (h/t MMA Fighting).

Since winning the Ultimate Fighter 22 lightweight tournament in December 2015, Hall has barely been used by UFC. His last fight was a unanimous-decision win over Gray Maynard in December 2016.

Hall (7-1) explained his two-year absence from the Octagon during a September appearance on The MMA Hour podcast (h/t MMA Fighting's Shaun Al-Shatti):

"I expressed the interest to the matchmaker in the UFC, who's never been anything but a gentleman to me, that I wanted to face very difficult and challenging opposition, and he said okay. He said, 'I'll let you know when that comes around,' that a lot of those guys have turned down the fight. So, no, I've not been spending my time turning down fights. Not a ton of offers have come in, but the ones that have, I've accepted wholeheartedly, and finally we got a good one."

Getting the opportunity to fight Penn (16-13-2), who was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2015, proved to be a good way for Hall to get his feet wet following a long layoff.

This isn't the same Penn who was regarded as one of the best fighters in UFC history at his peak. The 40-year-old has now lost his last six fights and hasn't won since knocking out Matt Hughes at UFC 123 in November 2010.

Regardless of what caliber fighter Penn is at this stage of his career, he still carries name recognition and cache in a way that only serves to help Hall attract more interest.

UFC's featherweight division doesn't have any clear title contenders right now. Champion Max Holloway has defeated Jose Aldo twice and beat Brian Ortega earlier this month.

Hall has a long way to go before putting himself in championship contention, but this was a positive first step heading into the new year.