10 years ago BJ Penn was stripped of the title by DW...how serious are they about Jon

It's been almost a decade since Dana White stripped future hall of famer BJ Penn of the UFC WW title after they refused his salary demands (which were quite modest if you read his book Why I Fight: the belt is just an accessory).

LAS VEGAS, NV, May 17, 2004…. Zuffa, LLC, owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, announced that due to BJ Penn’s reported signing with the K-1 organization, Penn would no longer compete in UFC events. Additionally, Penn’s actions have resulted in him being stripped of his title.
"I am looking forward to moving on and crowning a champion," stated UFC president, Dana White.

Source:
http://fcfighter.com/post/bj-penn-stripped-of-welterweight-title

On a recent episode of UFC embedded we saw Lorenzo say he was negotiating an extension with Jon Jones. How serious are they about keeping him?

It has been only one month since the LHW champ last defended his crown. Would you support the UFC stripping a fighter one month after a defense?

 

A Tonycpa thread that isn't about the Goat St.Pierre!?!?!

 

lol no way they strip him

 

There's a slight difference in the BJ Penn equation, he left to go fight for another promotion. At worst they have an interim title fight if Jones won't fight.

 

If Jon started fighting with K-1, then yeah they strip him. For quibbling over the next contender, no way do they strip him.

 

both sides will eventually compromise. Jones won't be stripped of the belt.

 

well he either fights Gus, or he forfeits the belt imo.

I really dont think they can give him any other options even though theyd probably like to.

 

Doubt it happens. Dana is just posturing and trying to make jones look bad to the public. This week Dana said there were no contract negotiations. Last week he said there were. Hell even Lorenzo is on a video blog saying he is meeting with Jones and his manager thursday(today) to do a contract extension with Jones and talk t o Jones about why Gus makes the most sense.

 

Why in the world would they have an interim title fight and allow someone who is not out on injured reserve to retain the undisputed LHW championship of the world?

If they decided to proceed without him, why create an interim belt which is absolutely meaningless considering the promotion still recognizes the champion?

You either recognize your champion or you do not. If you do not recognize your champ, then shouldn't you strip him? If you continue to recognize your champion then you shouldn't create a make believe title.

 

That's what created the champion clause in contracts. Even if it is your last fight you're still under contract as long as you are champ.

Had the UFC known that Penn would beat Hughes (and no one did. It was almost laughable to think he'd win considering he was this underachieving LW) they wouldn't have made that match.

 

If he doesn't sign to fight who they want him to Inga. In that scenario.

 

I wouldn't be shocked if it happened. It will be interesting to see how this ends. I'm on Dana's side on this one.

 

That would be more like the Tito scenario, when Randy and Chuck fought for the interim title.

 

Ridiculously stupid thread. 10 years ago the sport was completely different. People fought for multiple promotions and contracts were not what they are today. And the media and fans were different then too, so the UFC could do whatever they wanted. They would never screw Jones like that because A) he could be their biggest star in the near future B) the sport is corporate now, Jones has big money sponsors that would bitch and FOX would not be happy at all C) fans and media would be super pissed off and actually rebel against the UFC. So Jones will never have his belt taken away or get cut out of nowhere because we aren't living in the MMA dark ages any more.

 

What are you even talking about? What are you seeing that makes you even hypothesize that the UFC would strip Jones. This situation isn't even remotely similar to the Penn situation. He left the organization to fight elsewhere. Jones isn't about to do that.

 

he will sign eventually it hasn't even been that long, he is just getting attention

 

It hasn't even been long enough to discuss that, he will sign eventually. If he still hasnt signed in months then we can talk

 

I don't know how many of you remember this....when BJ returned to the UFC to fight GSP in his return bout.....The UFC did a short promo on BJ airing on Dish/Direct TV the day of the card to hype it up, along with showing highlights of some of BJ's previous bouts (Uno Knockout was shown about 100 times.)

On the promo, Dana tried to play the whole thing off.....Dana basically said that he had a sit down talk with BJ after he won the WW title, and that BJ stated to him that he wanted to take time off to pursue other interests. Then Dana basically said that he told BJ that he should take time off from his career, because he had reached the peak of the division.

The whole time, the company tried to make it look like BJ had left the sport to be with family or take up other hobbies...etc.... when he was really over at K-1 fighting the likes of Renzo Gracie and Lyoto Machida. I wish now that I had DVR'd, or recorded the event on a DVD-R back then to catch all the UFC B.S. they fill time with. I'm sure some of it is hilarious now.

 

LOL, TS is intentionally playing dumb... An obvious Jones hater.

BJ Penn's signing with K-1 => breach of contract => stripped of title.

Jones and the UFC not agreeing with either sides' terms => fight not materialized.

There is no breach of contract in Jones' case, because Jones never signed for the Gus rematch in the first place.

Come on, if you people are going to bash Jones, at least be honest with your bashing... Don't resort to twisting the truth... :icon_lol: