BJ Penn, the phenom myth????

[lechien]

BJ did spend that much time and he was at the gym every day. morning afternoon and evening.

BJ was already fighting MMA for Ralph a white belt. BJ learned enough BJJ basics back in Hawaii to do street fights. just trained in shorts.

For what it is worth, BJ brother (who only trained in Hawaii) went to Rio with him against Ralph apporval and he did very well at the world.

 

[lechien]

BJ already had decent stand up striking before he met Ralph.

Ralph used to call out his students and fight them in stand up gloves.

Ralph always picked on David because he only had good Judo.

BJ Penn always volunteered to fight Ralph because he knew he could take him on.

Big nuts for a young ikd.

 

[cenix]

i'm not a fan of bj, i'm not familiar with all bj's history, or the conflict with ralph, etc., but i do give him props for doing what he's done in that short a span. he has to be good, you know? so yes, i think he's a phenom for that.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

BJ did spend that much time and he was at the gym every day. morning afternoon and evening.

BJ was already fighting MMA for Ralph a white belt. BJ learned enough BJJ basics back in Hawaii to do street fights. just trained in shorts.

For what it is worth, BJ brother (who only trained in Hawaii) went to Rio with him against Ralph apporval and he did very well at the world.

how long do you refer to when you say THAT MUCH time?

 

[dza76wutang]

Not to poo-poo on someone's accomplishments, as 3 years, hell even 4 years is exquisitely impressive, but let's not lose sight of the fact that he was training VOCATIONALLY for those 3.X years. This is not a guy who trained like I would guess the majority of us do (4-10 hours per week), this guy was probably putting in 30-40 hours per week. That adds up to 1 year of his being 3-4+ years for a regular Joe. I'm sure every school has those guys who burn through ranks because they train 2-3x per day, ever day while most of us work full time and get in 2-4 practices per week. BJ was one of those guys BUT he was also naturally gifted in grappling.

All in all, his BJJ accomplishments were/are extremely special, it's almost a shame he did MMA.

 

[randomg1t]

All in all, his BJJ accomplishments were/are extremely special, it's almost a shame he did MMA.

considering how well he tranisitioned it isn't... but i still wish he'd keep up with grappling competitions.

i'd be happy as hell to see him grapple once a year at a major tournament. there's simply not enough footage of him grappling out there.

 

[dza76wutang]

considering how well he tranisitioned it isn't... but i still wish he'd keep up with grappling competitions.

i'd be happy as hell to see him grapple once a year at a major tournament. there's simply not enough footage of him grappling out there.

Well yea, you're correct he is also a gift to MMA (although I wouldn't mind a little less shit talking and a little more humility) but I felt like he turned his back on competitive grappling to do MMA and that I would call a loss for BJJ.

 

[smc]

You guys are looking too deeply into some of Ralph's words. When he says "BJ trained here as a kid" he's not talking about an 8 year old. 17 or even 20 years old is still a kid to a grown man.

As far as him training "a lot", I don't understand how you automatically take that in the context that it was more years than is stated in numerous outlets, including BJ's own book. A lot would fall in line with 2 times a day every day for a few years. As others said, the timeline is laid out in his book. It does mention the training with the guy who had trained a little BJJ, but if you guys really want to twist every little piece of information, then he could just as well say he wasn't officially awarded a belt until he set foot in an academy.

This thread went from an information seeking thread to a "trying to find a way to discredit BJ's legacy" conspiracy theory thread. There isn't a conspiracy.

 

[LOLCANO]

You guys are looking too deeply into some of Ralph's words. When he says "BJ trained here as a kid" he's not talking about an 8 year old. 17 or even 20 years old is still a kid to a grown man.

As far as him training "a lot", I don't understand how you automatically take that in the context that it was more years than is stated in numerous outlets, including BJ's own book. A lot would fall in line with 2 times a day every day for a few years. As others said, the timeline is laid out in his book. It does mention the training with the guy who had trained a little BJJ, but if you guys really want to twist every little piece of information, then he could just as well say he wasn't officially awarded a belt until he set foot in an academy.

This thread went from an information seeking thread to a "trying to find a way to discredit BJ's legacy" conspiracy theory thread. There isn't a conspiracy.

Shuttin' shit down.

 

[Narsil**]

is there a point to any of this shit?

bj basically trained bjj out the ass and got a BB in like 3 - 4 years

won the mundials

he left cesar's because bj thought he was holding back promoting him

eos

anyone wants more information they should FB bj

 

[xMikeyX]

by the way, your source is wiki? not very reliable either...

Watch the video, Ralph says bj went to train with him as a kid...

Your source is a friend and a biased Ralph Gracie. Anyways wikipedia is accurate with regards to the time it took bj to get his black belt after training in BJJ.

Read the beginning of Guerilla Jiu Jitsu by Dave Camarillo and read up about Ralph Gracie vs his former students. The scene from the Renzo gracie legacy movie also comes to mind where Dave talks about changing that ralph gracie tatoo on his back...

 

[Belatucadros]

I believe there's a bit more on Dave/BJ at Ralph's in BJ's guard book as well. Can't recall the details

 

[jackandcoke]

BJ use to beat up on Dave standing up, so Ralph use to tell BJ to go
at him hard or he would beat him up even worse. I think one time BJ
said Ralph was beating up on him so hard he was going to cry. BJ's heart
was in fighting so it was only natural that he leaned towards MMA, his legacy
is stamped in MMA and he has more fame then he would've had doing grappling.
I also read somewhere that when he gives up MMA he'll get back on the Bjj circuit.

 

[randomg1t]

man i know it's all just rumours on teh internets... but if even a tenth of them is true, ralph is a major douche.

 

[jackandcoke]

my comment was from his autobiographical book

 

[Drew Foster]

I believe there's a bit more on Dave/BJ at Ralph's in BJ's guard book as well. Can't recall the details

Dave said that the last time he passed BJ's guard was when BJ was a blue belt (maybe purple?).

 

[Lionidas]

BJ started training BJJ at the age of 17.

by 21, he was awarded his black belt and won Gold in the black belt division at the Mundials in Brazil, the most prestigious award possible in bjj.

 

[lechien]

man i know it's all just rumours on teh internets... but if even a tenth of them is true, ralph is a major douche.

read the Guerilla JJ book, some of the stories were really bad.

 

[lechien]

how long do you refer to when you say THAT MUCH time?

go buy his book.

there were some free chapter available on the net which covered his move from Hilo and his stay with Ralph.

 

[lechien]

i
he left cesar's because bj thought he was holding back promoting him

He left Ralph because Ralph did not agree with him competing in Brasil.