Does BJ Penn deserve to be favourite for this fight. I know that he is technically superior and has significantly superior submission skills but Stevenson has a better stand up game and is physically stronger. What has BJ been doing recently? Is he able to come back to the UFC at the lofty heights he left is or does Stevenson take him down? Opinions?
Let's it put it this way: The only person that can beat BJ Penn at lightweight, is BJ Penn. If he trains, gives a ****, and is motivated, he is horrific nightmare for a guy like Stevenson who really has no area that he excels at more than him.
BJ Penn has MUCH better stand up then Joe. And the likelihood of Joe catching him big is small, and him hurting him is even smaller. The only chance Joe has is to get him down and GnP him. What sucks for him though is that BJ Penn is near impossible to take down and once you get in his guard its even harder to inflict any real damage. You can hopefully hold him down and hope that you practiced enough BJJ to avoid his constant submission attempts. Joe is a strong guy and skilled, but he is nowhere near as strong as GSP or Hughes and they did absolutely nothing to BJ once they got him down. Anything can happen in MMA, but this really looks like a match made in heaven for BJ.
Stevensons standup is **** thats why he takes every fight agianst a decent striker straight to the ground. Penn has put Din Thomas and Caol Uno to sleep brutally,his overhand right is what setup the submission on Matt Hughes.
BJ is ****in scary, 3 out of his 4 loses have come to fighters heavier than him, especially Lyoto Machida at 205! He lost to Pulver but that was BJ's 4th pro fight. BJ, so long as he comes in fit, will beat everyone in the world at 155, he has better standup than Joe and far far far superior jiu jitsu, Stevensons wrestling is better but BJ stuffed Hughes takedowns and stuffed alot of GSP's takedowns and they are naturally much larger men than Stevenson.......so what hope does Joe have? I don't really see what he has in his arsenal to beat BJ, all he can do is train as hard as possible and hope to god that BJ has taken him lightly and will gas in the later rounds.
B.J. does have great stand up...he punches don't look great but he bob's and weaves and is very slick. I'm not sure what Joe's gameplan is going to be...besides getting to late rounds and hoping he can outlast B.J.
Like everyone says, BJ should take this easily if he trains and wants it. If he doesn't want it though, Stevenson will give him hell. Joe Daddy isn't exactly a slouch.
I dont know why no one mentions this but BJ is bigger than Joe. Its a great fight for BJ...its a more than meets the eye fight.. most will think that Joe is a top rank fighter which he undoubtedly is but at the same time BJ will most likely win it easy. BJ will look great in and after this fight. Just a bad matchup for Joe
**** hes a bad matchup for 185lb guys..Just ask Rodrigo and Renzo. BTW that guy in the avatar can do damage in BJs guard
i think barring some sort of fluke stevensons best chance is to try to SURVIVE and pray to every God or Diety known to man that bj gasses
I don't think it will be as easy as people think it is....Joe doesn't have many holes in his game either..great ground game and stand up.....I think he'll make B.J. work for it and if he can take him to the later rounds he'll give himself a chance.
