At first I thought Ben Henderson was a strange choice to put opposite BJ Penn in this discussion, but the more I thought about it the more I realized there is a decent case to be made for him as one of the best 155ers ever. Having said that, though, I don't include him in the conversation with BJ as one of the absolute best lightweights -- I would say he's top 5, maybe top 4, but I don't think he's the best or second best. For me it's Penn, Edgar and Gomi.
Anyway, as others have said, BJ had an aura about him that only a select few fighters have. His natural ability and physical gifts were incredible to behold and his fighting style was very exciting. He had a killer instinct that was fairly rare at the lower weights for the time. His boxing was skillful and he had dynamite in his hands, and his BJJ was beyond reproach. He also made great fighters look helpless. His Lightweight title defense over Diego Sanchez remains probably the single most dominant title defense I've ever seen in MMA; he absolutely pulverized Diego, who only landed a handful of strikes for his part. Bendo is a great fighter with lots of impressive wins and a number of classic fights on his ledger, but with BJ in his prime it was readily apparent that you were watching greatness. The "once in a lifetime"/"once ever" hyperbole has become a total punchline (and with good reason) through its ridiculous overuse, but that really applies to BJ, IMO: his balance, flexibility, preternatural understanding of grappling, epic chin, willingness to fight from featherweight to heavyweight (and be competitive in doing so) -- we'll never see anything like it again.
