BJ Penns fall is tragic and should never have happened

UFCBlackbelt

UFCBlackbelt

Green Belt
Joined
Aug 23, 2017
Messages
1,137
Reaction score
248
I think the UFC should have some greater degree of responsibility of preserving their GOATS. The tarnished legacies really ruin the perspective looking back on some of these fighters if you dont know better. I'm watching old fights for the first time and BJ was something special. Going into these old fights I only knew of his performances after nick.

Also, hot take. I think prime BJ is a terrible stylistic matchup for Khabib
 
BJ Penn is worse, but Anderson's is not good either
 
I'm still of the mind that a precipitous fall for a fighter doesn't invalidate their accomplishments nor their apex. Anderson is still the best 185'er of all time and Penn's best run was legendary.

Also, in before this turns into a hate on Penn fest.
 
Substance Abuse said:
I'm still of the mind that a precipitous fall for a fighter doesn't invalidate their accomplishments nor their apex. Anderson is still the best 185'er of all time and Penn's best run was legendary.

Also, in before this turns into a hate on Penn fest.
Click to expand...

I agree with you completely, but its inevitable. I feel these fighters have accomplished such incredible things that they deserve even the casual respect. People wouldn't look at an old swimming or football legend based on their final performances, but its hard to erase some of BJs/Anderson's last losses of the minds of casuals.
 
It's not "tragic". Why should it "have never happened"? He's a fighter, and wanted to continue fighting after his prime, like most fighters. He obviously didn't have the longevity of many other great fighters, but that doesn't take away the fact that he was a special talent and one of the best to ever do it in his prime.
 
It’s not the UFC’s fault that Penn is a hot head who partied too much and relied more on his natural ability vs evolving with the game. Penn is one of the most talented fighters ever, and I give him a lot of credit for testing himself fighting, while he didn’t really need to for money, especially with him fighting guys at a higher weight. But his downfall probably falls mostly on his shoulders.
 
Bj penns whole career is a bunch of should have not. But we love BJ penn because he did, even when he shouldn't have.

Imagine if Prime BJ had a chance to fight in FW. Imagine if he were a FW right out of the gate, He'd have basically never lost to anyone near his size til edgar, who also fought way undersized as well. The difference is that both were just that good.
 
Penn is from a different era and he just wanted to scrap imo, for better or for worse.
Different to most fighters today.
It is depressing at the same time though, don't get me wrong.

Nowadays most guys get some fame/notoriety then start playing it safe/eeking out decisions because they are too scared to lose.
It is what it is.
 
Had he retired after the rubbermatch with Hughes it would have saved him a TON of humiliation.
 
BJ Penn never declined, the UFC ability of the general population just improved to the point where the average joe could knock him out through learned technique from watching enough UFC fights.
 
Substance Abuse said:
Tragic, no. Depressing? Kinda.
Click to expand...

Didn't even get brutalized much in all those losses. Got ko'd maybe twice, the others the ref saved him.

He had it coming anyway. Back when he was winning he was hardly a nice guy. People forget. He got humbled.
 
Man was fearless actually wanted to fight anyone and not just saying it like a lot of the fighters nowdays. The guy really wanted to go and fight randy and wand when they were in their prime form.
 
TheBulge said:
Didn't even get brutalized much in all those losses. Got ko'd maybe twice, the others the ref saved him.

He had it coming anyway. Back when he was winning he was hardly a nice guy. People forget. He got humbled.
Click to expand...

These guys fight for a living, they're not always the nicest, but I've heard awesome stories about people just randomly showing up at his gym and him signing stuff for them and spending time with them for hours.

So, while he's got his demons and has fallen off the deep end in recent years with substance abuse problems and whatnot, he was just selling fights in the past. You can look at the end of the Sherk fight for proof.

Overall, I just hope he gets it together for himself and his family. I saw he recently lost his father. I've been there. It isn't easy.
 
Substance Abuse said:
I'm still of the mind that a precipitous fall for a fighter doesn't invalidate their accomplishments nor their apex. Anderson is still the best 185'er of all time and Penn's best run was legendary.

Also, in before this turns into a hate on Penn fest.
Click to expand...

Maybe but often the same factors that made them a beast also led to their downfall. In the case of Penn it was his ego. That drove him to be the best, but it also kept him from being humble enough to listen to anyone for any length of time. He brought in the Marinovich brothers, which led to an athletic renaissance for him, but then drove them away and started doing his own thing again with his yes men. In the case of Cain it was his insane work ethic. That quality allowed him to develop at record speed, but also kept getting him injured because he didn't know the limits of his body.
 
Penn’s story is definitely tragic. The guy entertained millions of people and had thousands of die hard fans who looked up to him. Sure he made his own bed, but it was a tragic fucking bed riddled with bad decisions. He should have retired after the 2nd Edgar fight and won a few more BJJ tournaments then retired and worked for the UFC promoting the sport
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,265,314
Messages
57,332,274
Members
175,647
Latest member
Vicent Czar

Share this page

Back
Top