BJ Penn, the phenom myth????

[SMillard]

Also does anyone else think it would be significantly harder to win the mundial's in 2011 than 1997?

Yes and no, If BJ had the cross training that many people have now given his natural abilities he would probably do well. Given that they have put time minimums for belt advancement BJ would be cleaning up in the lower belt divisions for quite some time giving him a good amount of experience when he finally got to black belt.

On the flip side the amount of competition, avaialbility of information and abundance of video even of white belts on youtube would mean that he'd be scouted trained for and have a bigger target on his back as he went up through the ranks.

good to see people giving BJ the credit he deserves in this thread. people like to think just because he was training full time, he was just chilling and training. but it does take a huge amount of self belief and dedication and sacrafice to get to the level he did so quickly.

BJ's life for that 3 years were on the mat, i doubt he had time for a whole lot else. relationships,time with freinds, doing normal things that people of that age would do.

he gets all the praise in the world from me for such a unqiue achievement.

Not to mention that the guy didn't have any major injuries and didn't suffer the burnout that most people face when they hit blue belt. That alone is an accomplishments.

 

[An end for]

BJ's life for that 3 years were on the mat, i doubt he had time for a whole lot else. relationships,time with freinds, doing normal things that people of that age would do.

I should have started training earlier... that sounds a lot like most of my life. What could have been...

 

[Jamie Hughes]

Yes and no, If BJ had the cross training that many people have now given his natural abilities he would probably do well. Given that they have put time minimums for belt advancement BJ would be cleaning up in the lower belt divisions for quite some time giving him a good amount of experience when he finally got to black belt.

On the flip side the amount of competition, avaialbility of information and abundance of video even of white belts on youtube would mean that he'd be scouted trained for and have a bigger target on his back as he went up through the ranks.


Not to mention that the guy didn't have any major injuries and didn't suffer the burnout that most people face when they hit blue belt. That alone is an accomplishments.

another great point.

I should have started training earlier... that sounds a lot like most of my life. What could have been...

haha im currently 20 and training full time, basically all i do is train,eat,sleep. its awesome to be able to do it, but you have to give up alot. will be worth it in the end though.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

TS is liar and a complete waste of space.

BJ Penn is a high-level BJJ Black-Belt & I'd love for you to actually prove otherwise besides supposed stories from your made-up friends

wtf??? now im saying bj is not a black belt and that he is no high level grappler?? WHERE THE FUCK DID I SAY THAT??????

 

[BJJ_Rage]

My friend told me that sherdog has 1 more trell- that's a rumer I herd, dood! I guess it takes a real hardcore fan to have a greater grasp of fact and reality (and using google). What a break for the reporter of the century on the interwebz! I'm gonna start a rumer that BJJ Rage posts something that isn't complete shit(herd it frum a frend).



Eat that trell!

you are giving me too much credit... .I DID NOT START A FUCKING RUMOR! I ASKED ABOUT SOMETHING I've been told, you know, ppl down here dont get BJs balls hanging on their walls, so lots of ppl say a lot of stuff, specially in brazil... and this friend told me Federico aveiro, a friend of us, that used to train in brazil (I think it was the name) told him the story, he was NU and suppously was there when Bj got his black belt... Then he showed me the video of Ralph saying that and then I came here so ppl can explain to me what was that about, period, nothing more... So its bullshit, ok... got it.

wtf ppl! "You shall not use Bj's name in vane", is that a fucking rule or what???

 

[barmyone45**]

another great point.



haha im currently 20 and training full time, basically all i do is train,eat,sleep. its awesome to be able to do it, but you have to give up alot. will be worth it in the end though.

It's an incredibly nosey question but it's on the internet so i'll be cheeky and do it anyway. How do you afford to train full time?

 

[Jamie Hughes]

It's an incredibly nosey question but it's on the internet so i'll be cheeky and do it anyway. How do you afford to train full time?

i teach kids/womens classes and clean the gym, so i get to train for free. a also give private sessions for muay thai and fitness for a little bit of money.

and also im not from a wealthy family at all, i juust have a very supportive mother and family who give me what the can to be able to pursure my dream.

im always short of cash, cant afford to buy expensive things and such(go out with freinds). but i wouldnt trade it for anything in the world. training is my life, i just feel fortunate to be able to do it.

 

[mrpopenfresh]

This half true - most of us will never get this chance. The other half is, if we *did* get this chance, how many people would actually go through with it? He has dedication that most can't even comprehend.

I diasgree. It's like studying to get a doctorate of working a 40 hour workweek. If you can spend the majority of your time on it, day in day out, you will get good quick. Although granted, some people might half ass it after a while.

 

[randomguy]

Either way, BJ Penn is exceptional even amongst black belts

 

[J Sho]

Also does anyone else think it would be significantly harder to win the mundial's in 2011 than 1997?

the division that BJ won in 2000 was arguably 'easier' than previous or subsequent years. Still no mean feat tho.

 

[MUFC]

the division that BJ won in 2000 was arguably 'easier' than previous or subsequent years. Still no mean feat tho.

Somewhat offtopic:

Have you seen Leo Santos vs Royler anywhere on the internet?

Been looking for that match for quite some time.

 

[barmyone45**]

the division that BJ won in 2000 was arguably 'easier' than previous or subsequent years. Still no mean feat tho.

I heard he won it without dropping a point aswell.

I was speaking more in terms of the evolution of bjj with each passing year the competition gets gradually higher rather than the field at that particular point in time.

Most wrestler's say the olympic gold medalist's at the next olympic's should be better than the winner's from 20 years ago I was thinking the evolution in bjj should be faster.

 

[barmyone45**]

i teach kids/womens classes and clean the gym, so i get to train for free. a also give private sessions for muay thai and fitness for a little bit of money.

and also im not from a wealthy family at all, i juust have a very supportive mother and family who give me what the can to be able to pursure my dream.

im always short of cash, cant afford to buy expensive things and such(go out with freinds). but i wouldnt trade it for anything in the world. training is my life, i just feel fortunate to be able to do it.

Fair play dude looks like you have a good record from your sig anyway.

 

[Wutang]

I diasgree. It's like studying to get a doctorate of working a 40 hour workweek. If you can spend the majority of your time on it, day in day out, you will get good quick. Although granted, some people might half ass it after a while.

So you're saying that given the chance, 99% of the population out there would not do anything but train for 3yrs and not burn out? Sorry, that's BS. There's a reason why select people get to black belt or a doctorate. Most people would do it for about 4mos and probably quit because they'd get bored or simply couldn't handle it anymore. Now, top that with the fact that he was able to win the world championships. It makes his accomplishment even more amazing - especially since he's not Brazilian.

Other guys who've done it at BJ's speed, that come to my mind,is Saulo and Cobrinha. That's an impressive group of BJJ players.

 

[billzar]

Not to mention that the guy didn't have any major injuries and didn't suffer the burnout that most people face when they hit blue belt. That alone is an accomplishments.

Completely off topic, but been a blue belt for a little over a year, so is there a burnout ahead for me? Cuz I just don't see it at all. In fact, I want to train even more.

 

[fourfif**]

Most wrestler's say the olympic gold medalist's at the next olympic's should be better than the winner's from 20 years ago I was thinking the evolution in bjj should be faster.

fifty years from now, satiev will still be the GOAT

 

[mz3035]

Pp

If you read BJ's book Why I Fight, the timeline is laid out there. He trained for a very small amount of time with a man in Hawaii who was only a novice grappler himself, he was originally a karate teacher or something of the sort but was kind of a train as you can, seminar attending type guy. BJ spent alot of time playing soccer at this time and didn't really train. He graduated HS. His father moved him out to OC to train with Ralph. There he became friends with Bobby Southworth and Dave Camarillo. He started as a white at Ralph's because the karate guy could not rank him. He worked up to purple. Him and Camarillo were tearing up the BJJ scene as purples. That is when he left. He then left to train under Andre Pederneiras, and got ranked quite quickly, I believe he was given brown in only a few months and then with all the mundials success was promoted to black. Then he won that in 2000(?).


His speedy promotion, according to this timeline, is pretty accurate IMO.

This..I just finished the chapter where he won the mundials..great book so far