BJ Penn Ya'll Musta Forgot or Never Known Thread

[Bewareofdawg]

I'm seeing a lot of negativitiy on this forum towards BJ. And rightfully so, for people who haven't followed his full career. A lot of questions about his "legendary" status or his all-time ranking. So in honor of his fight this sunday, here's an appreciation thread for The Prodigy!

- Began MMA in 2001, with no amateur fights, and no fights outside of the UFC
- In his 3rd and 4th MMA fights, he was fighting Caol Uno and Jens Pulver, who were both Top 5 Ranked LWs at the time
- For the first 8 years of his Pro Career (2001-2009) He was 12-1-1 as a LW with 10 finishes, and 4 UFC Championship wins with all 4 by finish. He was 15-5-1 Overall, with his losses coming against Hughes, GSP X's 2, Machida and Pulver (which was his 4th fight and very close).
- In the the 4 months from October 2003 to January 2004, he submitted Takanori Gomi and Matt Hughes back to back. Gomi was arguably the best LW in the world at the time and Hughes was no doubt the #1 WW in the world at the time.
- In his first 8 years, he fought in weight classes from LW all the way to HW and was never dominated or outmatched in any of his fights.

He had the best takedown defense in the history of MMA and the best Rear Naked Choke.

He was one of the first MMA fighters that was dangerous every where, and appeared to have capability and talent with no limits. It's joked about these days about him being "motivated", but he was able to do things in the cage that seemed impossible, which created a belief in people's minds that he could do anything under the right training and circumstances.

So WAR BJ! I hope he doesn't get his ass kicked again Sunday!

 

[Arm Barbarian]

I think most hard-cores just don't want to see him get hurt / cloud his legacy by continuing to fight years past his prime.

I'm mainly hoping he doesn't get seriously hurt or receive permanent damage at this point.

Dude had a legendary run back in the day, but his glory days waved bye-bye years ago.

 

[gatsby121]

WAR BJ!!!!!

 

[Bork Lazer]

Penn's prime is long gone but I like this matchup A LOT more than against Yair.

I am just praying to the MMA gods we don't see this version of Penn:

Even middleweight Penn>>>>>>>Tippy Toe Penn

 

[90 50]

He's another prime example of fighters that have lost the motivation to stay to date with training and conditioning.

He was one of the best of all time, and a product of his own demise.

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

I think most hard-cores just don't want to see him get hurt / cloud his legacy by continuing to fight years past his prime.

I'm mainly hoping he doesn't get seriously hurt or receive permanent damage at this point.

Dude had a legendary run back in the day, but his glory days waved bye-bye years ago.

same goes for Roy Jones jr in boxing.. wont titles from MW to HW yet getting KOed by bums now because he's pushing 50 and too stubburn to retire...

 

[fight4ippon]

hespect to the oldschool legend

 

[Agent Mulder's Hair]

Always rooting for bj.

 

[JustforBROCK]

He's a legend no doubt -- but his 'career' and peoples perception of him is his own fault. He quit -- many, many times. Showed up out of shape. Showed up 'unmotivated' or whatever you call it. He'll always have his place in the sport but we'll only talk about moments with BJ - never his entire career.

 

[mjmj]

Looky, the weekly "BJ Penn is the greatest" thread. We've all seen this shit a thousand times.

 

[NHBfilipino222]

I remember when he over trained for his first fight against Jens Pulver.

 

[Joe Wong]

Always rooting for bj.

tbh, im always rooting for a bj myself.

 

[Mixed]

He basically did what Conor is doing now 10 years go. Legend. Respect.

 

[weed]

 

[The Don]

I still think he won his first fight against Edgar. And if they didn't grant Edgar a rematch, we most likely would have seen Penn vs Maynard too!

 

[Sexy Jesus]

Enough with that guy... Fangirls pretend he's a legend. His record and his dedication prove he's not

I've been a MMA fan since the 90s and I still don't get it. The guy gets smashed repeatedly, came to fight out of shape too many times, has questionable dedication and is a quitter (GSP 2, after he talked so much shit. "To the death Georges!" GTFO). His best win was 8 years ago, against an aging, out of his prime Matt Hughes.

Brain damage is around the corner BlowJob Penn. Retire

 

[DannyNL]

A lot of fans are newer to the sport and just don't have the respect for guys like BJ and Couture because they look at the records, see a bunch of losses and completely write them off.

They'll never understand what a feat it was for BJ to go up a weight class and embarrass Matt Hughes, who was one of the biggest world beaters in the sport. Or for Randy to go to 205 and dominate Chuck and Tito. Or to come back after everyone thought he was done and dominate Tim Sylvia.

They missed how guys like BJ shook up the sport, the energy that surrounded the guy.

 

[DannyNL]

Enough with that guy...

...case in point lol

 

[Arm Barbarian]

Even middleweight Penn>>>>>>>Tippy Toe Penn

I literally couldn't watch Tinkle-Toes Penn

I was horrified.

 

[JohnnyDragon]

BJ did pretty well against the old stable of fighters. He hasn't evolved though and has looked terrible against the new breed of fighters who have a more well-rounded skill set and better cardio. Pretty hard to call him a legend when he wouldn't even get off the stool to fight GSP. I've never seen that before; someone not even willing to go and do the next round. People credit him because he fought in multiple weight classes. To me that's just further evidence that he makes bad decisions.