Penn's record at his optimum weight is 11-1-1. The loss was in his 4th pro fight by majority decision, and was later avenged by submission. Unlike GSP (TKO'd by Serra at his prime weight) and Anderson Silva (who has 4 losses and has been submitted), Penn has proven close to unbeatable at his weight. Is Penn better as a lightweight than St Pierre is at welterweight or Silva is at middleweight? :bbb
Ummm maybe, but Penns delusions of grandure in fighting above his natural weight is not a stick you should be beating GSP & Anderson with. Thats if Im reading the meaning of your thread correctly
its a strong possibility.. the thing that surprises me about bj fighting in higher divisions is that he doesnt seem very physically strong at all.. even at lightweight. yet hes willing to have a go. :think
Dont let his Mom hear you say that But yes, you gotta respect Bj fighting the best WW's to test himself, no other LW's would do half as well as Bj v Hughes & GSP (1st round of fight one anyway)
Devil's advocate: Penn has never been stopped though? And Penn has never been beaten by a relative journeyman?
Thats true about the stoppage but Serra was no journeyman IMO. Serra gave BJ hell at Lightweight and arguablly won the fight.
Serra was never on the level of Penn, GSP, Hughes etc though. Losing to Serra at your prime weight is not a loss to an elite level guy IMO, and a stoppage defeat to him is a severe black mark. Fair point on Serra-Penn though.
It's the quality of the fighter not the weight that makes the difference when comparing resume's. Silva's & GSP's wins are more notable it's that simple. Slipperyness P4P = Penn Overall skillset P4P = GSP Striking P4P = Silva
He appears to be close to the level then. Theres no doubt he won the Hughes fight, did KO GSP the 1st time and agian the Penn-Serra fight was close. Id like to see Penn fight Serra agian at 155 actually Serras improved a bit since then and id like to see him compete in a weight class hes actually made for.
Penn has never stayed at his "best weight" long enough to really beat top challenger after top challenger after top challenger. He's beaten Sherk and Florian, both of which are huge wins. However, he needs to stay down there long enough to beat Maynard and Edgar and Guida and whoever the **** else they throw at him. GSP fought lots of great fighters before he was champ and owned them, and the problem with Penn now is that he takes forever between fights. If he stays at 155 for two years and fights three or four times a year and there's legit NO ONE left for him to fight, then we can start talking about him as up there with GSP and Silva.
Come on man he doesnt really need to fight Clay Guida. The Sanchez fight is supposed have December 12th I think it is so maybe these 6 months minimum they we always have to wait to see BJ fight is over.
If Penn beats Sanchez, hasn't he more or less cleaned out his division? Who else would be a serious contender for the number 1 spot?