BJ Penn has evolved with the sport of MMA from UFC 31 to UFC 107 (8 years) he is still the best and most exciting LW in the world. Look at any other fighter from back then (well most) and the sport has passed them by. Whenever BJ's had a bump in his road, he has regained control and gotten back to the front of the pack. BJ Penn is the greatest UFC fighter of all time because of his longevity and the 2nd greatest MMA fighter behind Fedor. And he looks better now then ever. Yes, I'm riding his nuts today
It's cool man. I do this with Pacquiao all the time But you rank BJ ahead of GSP? Ahead of The Spider?
yeah I do. BJ has a LW and WW belt and if you look at their wins they match up pretty well. (GSP and BJ) What sets BJ apart is he has dared to be great, he moved up and fought GSP and Machida and Hughes when Hughes was unbeatable. GSP has undoubtedly passed Hughes as the greatest WW but I think BJ is still ahead of him. Remember 3 of GSP's wins are against former and natural lightweights (Penn and Serra) and then 2 of his wins are against Hughes, while Penn beat a younger better Hughes. Then GSP has: Heiron, Karo, Trigg, Sherk, Kos Fitch and Alves. All great wins, the guy has an unbelievable resume. BJ has: Gomi, Uno, Pulver, Ludwig, Renzo, Florian, Stevensen, Diego, Sherk, Hughes. GSP's Losses: Both avenged brutally Hughes Serra BJ's losses: Pulver - Avenged Hughes and GSP - Both much bigger Machida GSP and Machida are both top 5 P4P fighters today and MUCH bigger then Penn.
:good IMO he is the greatest UFC fighter of all time, thus far! Anderson Silva and GSP both have the potential to challenge him for that accolade, but right now he has earned the right to be considered the greatest, for many reasons, not least of all his undoubted talent/ all round skill, his wiliness to fight anyone, his resume, his longevity, and his adaptability (The UFC and the sport of mma has truly evolved from his first appearance in the octagon and I don't believe that any of the guys who were around then are even serious contenders now, never mind dominant champions!!). Let's hope he remains at 155 AND (More importantly!!) focused!
Good points you make. But IMO I think it's to tough to rank one guy over the other right now. Everyone is doing so well. I'm not the type to rank GSP higher just because he beat him twice. I think it's to close to call. But you forgot to mention Din Thomas as one of BJ's wins:thumbsup
I agree with everything you have said in this thread. I think Penn often gets lowballed because people either don't like him or (wrongly) believe he is a vastly inferior fighter to GSP without taking the size difference between them into consideration. If you analyze their whole careers at their best weights, I believe Penn has been overall the stronger and better fighter (ie he has been slightly stronger and better at light than GSP has at welter).
Penn is awesome. He will never beat GSP due to his size but for me he beats Hughes 4 times out 5. He only lost the 2nd fight due to an injury. The submission attempt he landed on Hughes in round 1 was insane. The guy is so so talented and its cazy to think for so long he would just get buy on that talent.
It wasn't just the injury dude. It was mainly his gas tank. Since that fight he's been talking cardio, cardio, cardio. Look at the way he trains now. He's upped his cardio training because Hughes taught him a lesson.
damnnn bj has been around for a long time and his only 31. And the scary part about it is it doesn't look like anybody at 155 can beat him. But good point a lot of the guys that's been fighting since the early days are either done or no where near the top. Of course the other exception is the phenom "vitor belfort" who debuted at ufc 12 and still going strong today. Who knows he might be the man to end silva's title reign
I agree, he's been the best lightweight in the world for an incredibly long time. One point does need to be brought up though; he wasn't making himself available to challengers for a few years when he was off fighting above 155.
BJ Penn is one bad SOB. BJs performence over Matt Hughes at UFC 46 when he was coming up from Lightweight vs the unbeatable Hughes was still one of the most impressive performences ive seen.
Yeah man he totally sonned Hughes out in that 1st fight. Matt underestimated him and got his ass handled. To me it was that big right hand BJ hit him with on the ground that did Matt in and set up that choke. I still hear the smack of that **** when it landed. Matt looked embarrassed as hell after tapped out
The kiss on the cheek was classic. I picked penn to win that fight. Never liked Hughes and thought penn had the perfect style to beat hughes. Hughes always needed to hit those takedowns but as the 2nd fight showed hughes found it near impossible to take penn down. Same with Sherk. Never understood why people ever though sherk could beat penn. Wrestlers thrive on takedowns. Penn has insane takedown defence and a great standup.
