BJ Penn's biggest issue wasn't his work ethic

[m249viking]

BJ Penn has a record of 16 wins and 14 losses. The boxing community laughs that this is a guy considered to be MMA's lightweight division goat. Compare Penn to the GOATs of boxing in the same division.

The “boxing community” is a sausage festival.

 

[Substance Abuse]

It's crazy how the right people can make or break a fighter. Sometimes I think about what we missed out on, what kind of GOATs we never got to see because of determining factors outside of their fighting abilities.

Very, very true. Then you've got guys like Jones who are on that level despite doing everything wrong outside of the cage. Life makes zero sense sometimes.

 

[Uber_Noober]

bjpenn.com

 

[witt1021]

2 division champ and the first non brazilian to win the BJJ world championships at the black belt level.
yeah he was never that good........

 

[Squintz]

Dude loved cocaine way too much.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

His biggest issue was to stick around until competition got actually good.

 

[13Seconds]

BJ Penn has a record of 16 wins and 14 losses. The boxing community laughs that this is a guy considered to be MMA's lightweight division goat. Compare Penn to the GOATs of boxing in the same division.

Look at this wikipedia record reader. This is MMA son. Not boxing.

 

[Smato_rules]

It’s too bad fitch didn’t allow him back at aka, it could have been cool to see him there at the end of his career. He did some framing at nova uniao but I heard he only stayed for a couple weeks at a time

 

[MigitAs]

No, it was his work ethic, yes men, and inability to dial back his ambitions despite lacking the right preparation. One of the most naturally talented fighters of all time, he needed to stay with Marinovich, stop having his brothers or Parillo run his camps and to stay at 155. It was just one mistake after another. At his apex, he was one of my favorite fighters to watch but he squandered all that talent thinking it was enough.

He never lacked the courage of his convictions but there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and without the right preparation and people in his corner, it's obvious which side of that line he was on.

The Ryan Hall fight made me cringe.

 

[Chillez]

 

[ComeChooDaddy]

BJ Penn has a record of 16 wins and 14 losses. The boxing community laughs that this is a guy considered to be MMA's lightweight division goat. Compare Penn to the GOATs of boxing in the same division.

Boxing is rigged. When I judge a fighter, I don’t even look at his record. I don’t give a fuck about it.

 

[SuperNerd]

It was grease.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

BJ Penn has a record of 16 wins and 14 losses. The boxing community laughs that this is a guy considered to be MMA's lightweight division goat. Compare Penn to the GOATs of boxing in the same division.

You do know you talk about boxing with mentioning padded records and fixed fights right?

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

No, it was his work ethic, yes men, and inability to dial back his ambitions despite lacking the right preparation. One of the most naturally talented fighters of all time, he needed to stay with Marinovich, stop having his brothers or Parillo run his camps and to stay at 155. It was just one mistake after another. At his apex, he was one of my favorite fighters to watch but he squandered all that talent thinking it was enough.

He never lacked the courage of his convictions but there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and without the right preparation and people in his corner, it's obvious which side of that line he was on.

Disciplined Marinovich Penn > Khabib

 

[jitzmonkey]

Dude was a stud when he was (presumably) off the yayo.
So I’d argue that (the type of) motivation does play a big part.

Whatever you do for a living stick to it broski.

Imagine if it’s data analysis, though.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

there is only so much fire & mana that your body can convert from two scoop rice, one scoop mac salad, and i believe during his window, we saw the best performances possible. multiple performances that were note worthy. he needed marinovich, he needed rudy IMO, he needed that fire, that hunger. and i think it was all there while he was on top. i think he beat frankie the first time in abu dhabi, that was a robbery to me. and i think that robbery loss, killed his confidence. questioned it. made him think twice. and i think with the rematch, where he definitively lost, i think some of the fire & mana died. the realization that despite the first time, he definitely wasnt going to beat him. and i think that probably sucked a lot. his fight with fitch was promising early on, but he definitely faded towards the end. the losses after that, just chipping away at what was once the fountain of youth of MMA performances. just be glad you were there to witness it, witness the early moments in UFC, the rumble on the rock cards, fighting Gomi, whooping Matt hughes, going to K1 and putting on crazy fights, HW machida, coming back and piecing up GSP like no other, for a round (lol). To winning the LW title again and dominating an entire division, again. You had to be there to believe it. To see him achieve it. And to see the end, where he could no longer conceive it. It is the MMA journey, one of the best ones. WAR BJ PENN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UWAE MAOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AmonTobin]

If you were there when he was at his best, you’ve got those great fight memories that no noob historian can sully. And no not everybody takes steroids. Some people put in the honest clean work.

 

[Ladder Master]

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

It's that he mistakenly thought he could be at his very best without taking steroids like everyone else.

That's why I never view his career as a disappointment the way so many do. What he was able to accomplish as a clean fighter was astonishing. His natural gifts were second to none.

But if he had decided to take the Jon Jones, Anderson Silva route, etc., then there's no doubt in my mind that we would be talking about him as a top 3 atg.

But even still, 2 division champ is nothing to sneeze at when you did it with an estrogen filled dad bod.
View attachment 1025911

Na, BJ was lazy. When he had Marinovich training him, he was at his absolute peak but he didn't keep him around long cause he didn't like how hard his training regiment was.

 

[Preston broadus]

Prime bj finishes khabib