BJ because not only did he tool a prime Hughes as a lightweight but he went around the globe to kick ass. The only thing you can somewhat redeem Hughes with is the fact he defended the belt at WW longer but the second coming of BJ beating Sherk, Florian, Diego, Stevenson has made him surpass Hughes resume wise as well.
I believe if you put the top talent of lightweights prime for prime against Penn, Penn would slaughter all of them, or at least beat them comfortably. Matt Hughes fell when fighters like GSP, Alves and Penn started knocking him out and just being better than him in certain departments. Penn fell due to lack of motivation, and I still truly don't understand how Frankie beat him.
Frankie is a style nightmare for Penn who is patient with his stand up. As you know by now Edgar has the heart of a champion. Lets not minimiz Frankie because he may not ever be as revered as BJ but he has the potential to be a great champ in his own right. To me its a question of skills, these lighter weights guys are so much closer in skills the the big boys. Theyre all ****n fast and well rounded. Serra, Uno and Prime Jens at LW were as good as they come, certainly p4p better than anyone Hughes have faced outside of GSP. Even Din Thomas was favored against BJ when they fought. Bottom line is BJ sets of skills are far more refined than that of Matts. And hes more well rounded as well.
hughes doesn't have bjs skills or talent but bj doesn't have hughes work ethic. had they swapped/combined that would be awesome.
Oh, I'm not doubting Edgar or anything. Penn just had such an aura of invincibility around him everyone including myself didn't even pay attention to Edgar being a live threat, most people didn't even see him as a threat the second time around. It's strange to see Penn be outstruck on his feet. The more impatient he got the easier Frankie was able to take him down, it seemed.
Id say Penn for 2 reasons. One he was more dominant as a Champion as great as Matt Hughes was he had to stratch and claw his way to alot of his Championship victories like GSP I, both Trigg fights even the Sean Sherk fight and especially the rematch with Penn. BJ as a Champ totally destroyed the best in the UFC's Lightweight like Stevenson, Sherk, Florian and Diego Sanchez with absolute no problems. Also to me how well rounded you are means alot to me. Hughes was all about one thing and thats getting the fight to the ground now he can submitt you, pound you out, grind out decisions etc but BJ was dominant not only with his ground fighting but dominant in alot of fights as a striker. Theres plenty of cases of both Hughes and Penn choking guys at their peaks but where are Hughes brutal knockouts like a BJ Penn ? Agree with Achillies give BJ the work ethic of a Matt Hughes now my god thats insane.
I picked Hughes but didn't read that it was based on ability. On ability definitely Penn was the more versatile of the two. As far as being a champion, I would go with Hughes for the duration of how dominant he was.
Well they pretty much met at their primes; close enough anyway, and BJ won at 170 but without being much bigger than he was at 155, so it's hard not to say BJ at 155. Hughes probably had the more consistent career and run as a champion.
