BJ Penn's WW legacy IF he got the nod in Penn/GSP 1?

Jon Stark

Jon Stark

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JUST rewatched the fight. GSP lost round 1 and took excessive damage. The next two rounds are mainly takedowns and GSP being very inactive. GSP gets the nod in a close, controversial split decision win.

There is no question in my mind GSP won that fight. My question is, would Penn's legacy be much different if he got the win. I think yes and he would be looked at as the number 2 WW of all time. Right now his WW record isnt very great and isnt really in the discussion for top 3.
 
i think his WW legacy would be worse if he would have won then the fall from the top would of been alot higher if im making any since.
 
Jim Rome said:
JUST rewatched the fight. GSP lost round 1 and took excessive damage. The next two rounds are mainly takedowns and GSP being very inactive. GSP gets the nod in a close, controversial split decision win.

There is no question in my mind GSP won that fight. My question is, would Penn's legacy be much different if he got the win. I think yes and he would be looked at as the number 2 WW of all time. Right now his WW record isnt very great and isnt really in the discussion for top 3.
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I don't know if it would have changed too much as they would have most likely fought again anyway, and GSP would have destroyed him like he did the 2nd time. Georges was not at his prime back then and that's how it would have been remembered. I actually think that Penn fight was pivotal in GSP's development as a fighter. Still an impressive fight for Penn considering how badly he hurt GSP which few men can say they have done.

Penn's legacy was set when he beat Hughes the first time, which is one of the singular best accomplishments in MMA history given how incredible Hughes was when they fought.
 
As a huge Penn fan, I don't think it really would.

Even if he did win that fight, he still wound up getting stopped by Hughes in his next fight and was completely dominated by GSP in the rematch. He lost to Rory and Diaz as well. He body of work at WW would still be shaky and inconsistent even if you add a win against GSP in there.

Beating Hughes and winning the UFC WW title, was both the best and worst thing for Penn's career.
 
he's a legend. regardless of GSP clearly winning rounds 2&3 (inactive? pshaw) and rounds 4-7.

those who don't think he's already a legend still wouldn't even if he'd eked out one of those rounds for the win.
 
Number 2? Over GSP or Hughes...? Either way your wrong lol
 
afrdzak said:
As a huge Penn fan, I don't think it really would.

Even if he did win that fight, he still wound up getting stopped by Hughes in his next fight and was completely dominated by GSP in the rematch. He lost to Rory and Diaz as well. He body of work at WW would still be shaky and inconsistent even if you add a win against GSP in there.

Beating Hughes and winning the UFC WW title, was both the best and worst thing for Penn's career.
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I really think Koscheck's WW legacy is much better than Penn's. He's also KO'ed Hughes and lost to GSP twice while always being a top 5 threat to any fighter.

Id rank top 5

GSP, Hughes, Fitch, Koscheck, then I guess maybe Penn or Hendricks.
 
Someone posted a comment in a previous BJ thread that beating Matt Hughes was the worst thing that happened for BJ's career. Beating GSP would've topped that. We never would've seen him go back to LW to capture the title. We'd likely see him hover at WW, he'd have a case for a third fight with GSP, which would look a lot like BJ-GSP II or BJ-Rory but without the Ali shuffle.
 
I guess ppl forgot that bj had hughes scared first two rounds......and if he had 5 more secs he woulda choked hughes out...but its ok.
 
Better than it is now assuming GSP still did the same things afterwards.
 
GSP is even more motivated in the rematch and makes bj look even worse..

It might actually hurt his legacy
 
Rkue said:
I guess ppl forgot that bj had hughes scared first two rounds......and if he had 5 more secs he woulda choked hughes out...but its ok.
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As much as I wish this to be true, Hughes was out of the triangle at the end of round two. You can clearly see he had escaped the position a couple of seconds before the end of the round.

But Penn was certainly winning on the cards through 2 rounds.
 
BJ was always too small for WW and his supreme skill while in his prime is what let him get away with it.

A smart fighter like GSP or Hughes would have always figured out a way to beat him in the end. As they did when they next fought him at WW.
 
PunchFaceToWin said:
BJ was always too small for WW and his supreme skill while in his prime is what let him get away with it.

A smart fighter like GSP or Hughes would have always figured out a way to beat him in the end. As they did when they next fought him at WW.
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there are a shitload of smart fighters who don't become and stay champs for a long time.

GSP didn't win just because he's 'smart'. he's also the best fighter that division has ever seen. he's beaten everyone. including BJ Penn.

Hughes is 1-2 against BJ. and was the sole L on Hughes' first 14 UFC fights (e.g. "Pride Hughes")

BJ will always be an enigma. like you say, he was always too small for WW. but unlike a lot of guys who spent most of their careers at 2nd best (Franklin & Florian to name 2) BJ actually managed to get a belt or 3 in his 10+ year career. not bad, i say.
 
Only BJ nuthuggers suggest GSP's first win over Penn was controversial. It was no such thing.

Penn stylistically always challenges Hughes but there is not one significant fight above LW otherwise that he could win.
 
RJ43 said:
Penn's legacy was set when he beat Hughes the first time, which is one of the singular best accomplishments in MMA history given how incredible Hughes was when they fought.
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Yep. Most people ignore this fact. Hughes was far an away the P4P #1 fighter in the world at the time and Penn moved up from LW and finished Hughes easily.
 
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