Is BJ PENN the most losingest "all time great" in combat sports history?

Lmfao @ everyone saying Hunt. Hunt is a legend and on the road to all time great but it's not the same as BJ Penn or other names mentioned who lit the scene up immediately on arrival and acquired belts and then faded. Mark Hunt went through a total career renaissance there was a point when no one considered him as someone who should even still be fighting. I still remember texting a friend "I can't believe I'm watching Mark Hunt win a fight in 2011" after his first comeback win.
 
Yeah but you have to note that he won 3 of those titles across a losing record of 6-7 between 2002-2007. It's just that any time he lost a title he was given another title shot quickly.

Couture's obviously a legend, but I think it's harder to do what a Aldo or GSP did which was win one title and then defend it consistently for years without being beaten.

I completely agree. Consecutive title defenses are pretty much the gold standard for proving your championship mettle. Still, easy access to title shots aside, Randy did get that strap on 5 occasions which is far more than many fighters. It won't compete with the Silva/GSP/Jon Jones records - but it's still quite the accolade.
 
Lmfao @ everyone saying Hunt. Hunt is a legend and on the road to all time great but it's not the same as BJ Penn or other names mentioned who lit the scene up immediately on arrival and acquired belts and then faded. Mark Hunt went through a total career renaissance there was a point when no one considered him as someone who should even still be fighting. I still remember texting a friend "I can't believe I'm watching Mark Hunt win a fight in 2011" after his first comeback win.

Yeah, he shouldn't be listed because he isn't a legend. He's a mediocre heavyweight with basically no big wins his entire mma career and several embarrassing losses.
 
I completely agree. Consecutive title defenses are pretty much the gold standard for proving your championship mettle. Still, easy access to title shots aside, Randy did get that strap on 5 occasions which is far more than many fighters. It won't compete with the Silva/GSP/Jon Jones records - but it's still quite the accolade.
Yup agreed.
 
Bj recently has been terrible to watch if you're a penn fan.. but the bj of yesteryear was a sight to see. Beat prime hughes gave gsp a good run the 1st time 50% of his career he fought above his weight class and showed heart. A legend for sure fought great competition
Just saw the second Hughes fight. Yeah, he gassed in the third but seeing Penn almost submit Hughes in the second was crazy.
 
Penn had always been overrated. Not to say he isn't talented, but he rarely did anything with it.
 
I honestly would have preferred that he stay retired, but that's his choice to make. His 3rd fight with Edgar was painful to watch.
 
But he's definitely the most motivated
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Motivated BJ PENN beats prime Velasquez
 
Bj recently has been terrible to watch if you're a penn fan.. but the bj of yesteryear was a sight to see. Beat prime hughes gave gsp a good run the 1st time 50% of his career he fought above his weight class and showed heart. A legend for sure fought great competition


oooo he beat a prime Hugheso_O
 
Many of his losses have come near the end of his career where he probably should have retired but chose to keep fighting, and the other losses are mostly against larger competition. His second defeat was against Lyoto Machida after all, can't blame him too much for that one.

Penn has always lost every other fight.
 
I'm one of the biggest Penn haters on these boards but his accomplishments can't be denied he was 2 divisional champ he fought in 4 or 5 different weight classes and to top it off he didn't need to fight he was a spoilt rich kid. To bad he had such a terrible personality else I could've been a fan.
 
He was past his prime in all of his recent losses and before then he fought top competition in multiple weight classes.
 
BJ was a natural lw who's schedule included GSP 2x, Hughes 3x, Fitch, Machida, Edgar 3x, Sherk, Pulver 2x, Uno 2x, Florian, Sanchez, Diaz, etc. Go ahead and list all of the lw's who would have a winning record against that list.
Only true answer.

Penn is way past his prime but his career has always been against the highest of competition.
 
BJ is kind of a special case because he did his best work at 155 but has a bunch of fights at 170 and a few at 185 and even an open weight against Machida. Aside from the terrible streak his career ended on, most of his early losses came from jumping up weight classes.
 
BJ Penn is 11-3-1 at LW. Something to think about.


Good point. That is a pretty good record, but it's still not like GOAT type #s.

The thing you have to realize with BJ (and Randy) is that you have to look past the record. You have to realize who they fought. During what time period? What was the buildup, their background, n recent history. What was at stake? Who was expected to win.

When you look at the intangibles of their careers, you'll see they both did some very great things at the biggest moments.
 
I'm one of the biggest Penn haters on these boards but his accomplishments can't be denied he was 2 divisional champ he fought in 4 or 5 different weight classes and to top it off he didn't need to fight he was a spoilt rich kid. To bad he had such a terrible personality else I could've been a fan.

Still lost every other fight
 
Most of those losses came either at the end of his run or against guys he had no business fighting.

BJ, Randy and Hunt are guys where you can't iust look at their win/loss record. It doesn't tell the entire story.
 
He gets credit for fighting clean. I know for a fact that he's never taken PEDs because he wouldn't be able to stick to the strict 16 week regimen of a typical cycle. His idea of cheating was training in a high altitude mask. He didn't even bother going up to the cold thin air of big bear, he chose to buy a mask and train in the comfort of Hawaii.
 
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