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

Prime Matt Hughes vs Khabib would have been an interesting fight.

Khabib missed a lot of the best of his era tbh. There were plenty of fights left for him when he retired; he never came close to clearing out his division.
I agree they are similar fighters with a similar build
 
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).

This is hilariously inaccurate. Penn’s 3-5-1 at 170 lbs with a razor thin split decision loss to the legend GSP and one of those a title win over prime Matt Hughes, and also has a win at middleweight and technically also has a win at light heavyweight. He went to a decision at open weight (technically heavyweight) with Machida as well, which is quite incredible when you realize he could have made 145 his entire career.
 
Khabib not lw goat? Bendo got cut before Khabib reached him and got beat by his leftover (Anjos), BJ lost to a true bantamweight. Imagine if Khabib got his title shot when he deserved it. People on here with rose colored nostalgia glasses.
 
is this something that should strengthen mcgregors stock? in that case its a massive fail.
That was a question concerning his natural weight and not supposed to strenghten anyone's livestock.
 
As much as I like benson, imma disagree. Khabib is lw goat. Benson had his shot at lw goat but lost to Pettis on the rematch and went downhill after that. Maybe if he called out the correct Russian instead of rustam, he woulda been goat lw.
 
Prim BJ would bust his face up, stuff all takedown attempts, and finish him with the RNC.
He would've gotten taken down and drowned much like Hughes Penn II. What an embarrassment, Hughes beat Penn with positional jiu-jitsu.
 
BJ is popular among fighters and normal fans who enjoy the actual fights. He's hated by autistic weirdos who only care about "records" and numbers.
 
Looking only at UFC LW division, Khabib had the better record, but BJ Penn is an absolute legend. Him moving up and taking the WW title from Hughes is larger than anything Khabib has accomplished.
 
Khabib is only considered because he is "undefeated" but he only fought a handful of big fights. He never took any risks or tried to test himself and retired in his prime before anyone might beat him. He was always only about preserving his legacy.
BJ is only underappreciated by casuals because of his record. He made himself look bad fighting way past his prime against guys he had no business fighting. During his prime he was a terror to everyone at LW and WW. His domination of Hughes at the time is one of the most impressive things ever in MMA. BJ was a LW who moved up to fight the long time multi defending champ who was viewed as almost unbeatable and he dominated the fight. Then proved it wasn't a fluke by winning a trilogy.
 
The BJ Penn cult is like Scientology. Completely ridiculous and you're disappointed that certain people are a part of it.
 
And lost countless times because of that.
Equal parts courage and idiocy.
GOAT?

He didn't dodge like Khabib though. Bj tested himself regardless if he was the champ or not.

Even him being a two divsion champ.(Khabib is not) bj won matches in multiple weight classes. 155,170,185

Most of khabib wins were against straight bums.
 
Prime BJ would get smashed by Khabib
How?
I would say WW Hughes, WW GSP and WW Fitch are much tougher fights than LW Khabib.

BJ was one of the best grapplers in the world, so trying to keep him on the ground would be very high risk.
 
He echos alot of what I have said. Longevity is part of being an all-timer and Khabib simply doesn't have that and never will unless he comes back. Willingness to go outside your weight class is also a factor that Khabib never did. You can have have him in the conversation of all-time best LW, but not overall. There are too many other guys that far surpass him like GSP, Anderson, Fedor, Mighty Mouse and Jones.
 
Any longtime MMA fan who watched both of their careers from start to finish know that BJ Penn is the lightweight GOAT. Khabib didn’t stick around long enough to prove he was the lightweight GOAT. Not to take anything away from Khabib, but BJ Penn was dominant for so long, (and if the division didn’t take a hiatus, most likely longer). Plus he won the belt at Welterweight and even drew with Machida at LHW, when Machida was in his prime. People forget because BJ fought for too long and the newer fans only remember is crazy losing streak. If he had of retired like GSP, it would have been a different story. BJ is the LW GOAT.

Uh, when was Penn ever dominant for a long time?
 
Lets put it this way. They both won a vacant title against a meh guy,they both fought previous champion in thier title defenses,Khabib foughr Mcgregor and BJ fought Sherk who himself won vacant belt and Khabib beat Porier and Gaethje and BJ beat Florian and Sanchez,Porier and Gaethje > Flortian and Sanchez. Also Khabib won 13 in LW division and Penn was 9-3-1 in LW upto Frankie Edgar losses at LW. IMO Khabib is LW GOAT.
 
How?
I would say WW Hughes, WW GSP and WW Fitch are much tougher fights than LW Khabib.

BJ was one of the best grapplers in the world, so trying to keep him on the ground would be very high risk.
Sure, some risks but Khabib was pretty much always in dominant positions
 
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