Benson Henderson says B.J. Penn is lightweight GOAT.

[Karl_Hungus]

“Who cares about my opinion?” he prefaces his take. “But I’m not gonna put Khabib up there for the greatest ever of all time. You can maybe consider him one of the greats for 155, but as far as one of the greatest of all-time in all weight classes, nah. You might have to miss me on that one. That’s saying something. Greatest of all time, I think there are a good 10 or 15 above him. I’m one of those purists who is about longevity as well. Somebody who has been there and competed at the top level. Not somebody who is 35-0 but only has really 10 fights against the top-level guys.

“For me, B.J. Penn is the greatest lightweight of all time. He’s up there for one of the greatest fighters of all weight classes, period. All-time. He did it against the best in the world, at the time they were the best in the world. You can’t complain about he didn’t fight this guy or that guy. At the time that he was fighting, in his heyday, he was fighting the best in the world and he was putting them away. For me, B.J. is up there...”​

https://www.mmamania.com/2021/10/12...at-p4p-benson-henderson-bellator-ufc-mma-news

 

[GearSolidMetal]

 

[Ice Hotel]

Intelligent MMA fans know that BJ Penn > Khabib

Penn didn't make a career off beating bums and went up weight classes and won

 

[Madeline Chelsea]

Penn is the goat at losing I agree.

 

[gluehuffer1776]

bj and benson have better claims to lw goat than khabob

 

[The UFC Brander Collector]

Prime BJ would get smashed by Khabib

 

[PrinceOfPain]

Intelligent MMA fans know that BJ Penn > Khabib

Penn didn't make a career off beating bums and went up weight classes and won

Penn largely made a career off of reaching beyond his means and losing impressively.

He was the McGregor of his day but with more freedom to have freakshow fights because of the era (though, i think, he was better than McGregor is).

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Intelligent MMA fans know that BJ Penn > Khabib

Penn didn't make a career off beating bums and went up weight classes and won

Penn Legendary streak against Pulver, Stevenson and Sherk is still the best in LW history.

 

[xXxGhost89xXx]

In before people shit all over Benson. Dude has a legit point and it’s his opinion.
I think the whole thing is ridiculous. It all just depends on how you look at p4p and what your criteria is.
I can see why some consider Penn the greatest lightweight and I can also see why some consider Khabib the greatest lightweight.

 

[Fioretti]

Penn largely made a career off of reaching beyond his means and losing impressively.

He was the McGregor of his day but with more freedom to have freakshow fights because of the era (though, i think, he was better than McGregor is).

Conor made his name by cutting massive weight and fighting below his natural division. Penn did the opposite.

 

[PrinceOfPain]

Conor made his name by cutting massive weight and fighting below his natural division. Penn did the opposite.

Conor made his name by being a spectacle. Penn did the same.

 

[Iron Nick]

Penn had the potential to do it, probably even the potential of being the overall GOAT (same goes probably for Khabib though) but at lightweight Khabib was consistently the more dominant force and his only close fight was very early in his UFC tenure against a guy who would later pop for EPO (which helps both with endurance AND weightcutting).

 

[Fioretti]

Conor made his name by being a spectacle. Penn did the same.

In a sense, I'll agree, but how each guy did it is totally different.

 

[DS7]

fun fact: Benson Henderson has the same world titles as Khabib




lmao at the Khabib fans who think he's the GOAT above Jones, Silva, GSP etc

 

[Baba Ghanoush]

Although LW GOAT is hard to pinpoint due to the shark tank nature of the division, Bendo's not entirely wrong. Some of you young bucks might not remember BJ in his prime. The dude was an absolute animal who would fight anyone at any weight.

He wasn't a dagestani diva who needed perfect conditions to fight once a year, if that.

 

[PTSDtreatment]

I agree with Benson. Mainly the part about not caring what his opinion is.

 

[Greyscale]

Conor made his name by cutting massive weight and fighting below his natural division. Penn did the opposite.

Oh, really? How many times did he miss weight after cutting "massive"? How many times he was on the verge of death after extreme weight cut?

 

[Garnet_StrongerThanYou]

Benson has the same amount of Title defences as Khabib and he doesn’t mention himself.

He’s humble and good.

Khabib retired too early. Good chance that Oliveira or Chandler smokes him

 

[PrinceOfPain]

In a sense, I'll agree, but how each guy did it is totally different.

As I said, different eras. Penn tested himself more, in general. But I don't think there were many opportunities for Conor to leave the UFC in pursuit of.
But they both beat a GOAT (Hughes and Aldo) and they both went up a division (not as impressive for Conor, given his natural size). They both beat a champ in the division above their own (Hughes and Alvarez), then got beaten by one of that division's GOATs (GSP and Khabib), and then became irrelevant with their poor results in their next two bouts with a top fighter (Edgar and Poirier). I think Penn's legacy would have benefited from spending more time in the LW division, while I think Conor had a harder ceiling, no matter which division he fought in - I doubt he'd have dominated FW had he stayed there, so bouncing around was probably his best bet for building a legacy.

In both cases, their legacies were largely built off of their novelty appeal to a cult-ish fanbase.

I don't think Khabib's legacy will age well, because of its duration.

 

[Fioretti]

Oh, really? How many times did he miss weight after cutting "massive"? How many times he was on the verge of death after extreme weight cut?

He's looked pretty skeletal at 45. Do I really need to post the pics? I don't think he ever missed weight, but that doesn't mean he wasn't cutting a lot. He's fought twice at 170 without looking fat, soft, or bloated, unlike BJ. Come on, now.