Conor McGregor or BJ Penn : Who will go down in history as the greater fighter?

[Oldman1]

Prime BJ is better than prime conor by a mile.
Imagine conor trying to fight GSP.

 

[Natural Order]

Prime Penn would have steamrolled any version of MacGregor. LOL.

Also Little Mac never defended a belt. Context matters.

 

[ShowYouRoll]

Before the newbs start jumping all over me saying "Conor it's not even close. Let me make a case for BJ Penn..

A lot of new fans look at BJ's record and assume he sucks. In reality BJ was one of the P4P best fighters on the planet up to his second fight with Frankie Edgar. Then he fell off a cliff..

Before the second Frankie fight BJ was 15 - 6 - 1. His losses were as follows..

Jens Pulver - Could have went either way..

Machida - Heavyweight..

GSP 1 - Razor close split decision. Could have went either way

Matt Hughes 2 - Legit loss

GSP 2 - Legit loss

Edgar 1 - BJ should have got the decision imo..

Had it not been for bad judging and losing out on coin flip decisions, BJ could have easily been 18 - 3 - 1, with his loses being to GSP 2, Hughes 2 and heavyweight Machida. No shame in that...

Throw in that he was a UFC 2 division champion who actually defended..

So who will go down as the greater fighter?

Conor isnt a great fighter, he knocked out people smaller than him to win both titles. BJ beat bigger opponents, although BJ isn't that great, he lost almost as many as he won

 

[bend24]

Hmm. This is a tough one honestly. Both are criminally overrated imo. I initially thought BJ. But...as I did more research on it I’m going to have to lean Conor. My main criteria was looking at the top wins for both of them. I did factor in the fact BJ actually had title defenses as well.

But connors top wins are
Aldo
Porier
Holloway
Mendes
Alvarez

BJ is
Hughes (probably the best win on the list given circumstances in fairness)
Sherk
Stevenson
Diego
Florian

I think if ufc had a 145 division at time BJ was around and he decided to fight there he could have been pretty dominant.

 

[Conor_Is_Overrated]

Penn actually defended his title successfully.
And then he fought arguably the UFC GOAT TWICE, going UP in weightclass. FINISHED Matt Hughes TWICE, again, at WW. Hell, even fought Lyoto Machida.

I think LW is Conor's natural weightclass (also BJ's) so the above equals something like Conor
- fighting Usman TWICE, one of them a split decision,
- finishing Covington TWICE,
- fighting... I don't know... Adesanya? Dominique Reyes?

I don't see it.

 

[D'z]

BJ, and it's not even close. Conor was a grift. BJ was legit a "prodigy". Dude fought Machida at heavy-weight for ffs. Conor lacks those kind of balls.

 

[Conor_Is_Overrated]

Hmm. This is a tough one honestly. Both are criminally overrated imo. I initially thought BJ. But...as I did more research on it I’m going to have to lean Conor. My main criteria was looking at the top wins for both of them. I did factor in the fact BJ actually had title defenses as well.

But connors top wins are
Aldo
Porier
Holloway
Mendes
Alvarez

BJ is
Hughes (probably the best win on the list given circumstances in fairness)
Sherk
Stevenson
Diego
Florian

I think if ufc had a 145 division at time BJ was around and he decided to fight there he could have been pretty dominant.

I don't rate the wins over Poirier and especially Holloway that high. That version of Holloway was FAR away from the later dominant champion.

I think Conor's best wins are
- Aldo
- Alvarez
- Mendes (on 10 days notice)

and then probably Nate 2 (majority decision).

And then comes Poirier, Siver...

 

[Troy Nelson]

I think the answer is actually BJ when you think about who Conor's actually beaten. Conor's best wins are a flukey KO of Aldo (he likely would have lost a rematch) and a good win over Alvarez.

Compare that to how unbeatable BJ was in his day and it's actually not even that close. I can't say with certainty prime Conor beats this guy or that guy unless they are 100% gonna stand and trade with him. And even then he has to do it inside two rounds.

 

[RiotWyatt]

In terms of skill, BJ is light-years ahead. They both have similar gas tanks

In terms of resume? It's not even close.

Conor's LW UFC resume. 1-2. No title defenses.
- Alvarez

Penn's LW UFC resume. 11-5-1. 3 title defenses.
- Thomas
- Uno
- Serra
- Gomi
- Pulver
- Stevenson
- Sherk
- Florian
- Sanchez

 

[arabian_matrix]

this is a dumb thread

 

[Kazuky]

Hey, i'm much more of a fan of BJ Penn than Conor. And i do think that Prime BJ Penn was a better fighter than Conor ever was. I also think BJ's achievements are more impressive, even some of his losses are more impressive than a lot of Conor's wins. Being such a small dude and still able to compete against Machida is huge.

However, you don't get to simply forget a portion of someone's career. Everything in your record counts. 30 losses as a 50 yo? It doesn't matter. It's still part of your career.

The thing is, asking who's "the greater" is far too vague. What are we talking about here, exactly? Greater at what? The more skilled? The better record? BJ was a better fighter and faced overall tougher competition. Conor has a better record, in simple terms.

 

[true_fan]

BJ Penn destroyed his legacy by keep losing his last 7 fights. The guy is 16-14 as a result of that. I doubt Conor will lose 5 fights in a row, he will probably retire if he loses his next fight.

But Fedor didn’t

 

[krelianx]

People basically said this about BJ Penn for his entire career. If he’s motivated he will win, he is so skilled etc. In big fights he almost always lost.

Huh? He beat Pulver, Gomi, Stevenson, Florian, Sherk, Ludwig, Hughes, Renzo, Uno, Diego...

You either don't know these names or are just stupid.

 

[B-Man]

I think ten years from now BJ will be the higher regarded, and rightly so.

 

[storeybuckle]

Before the newbs start jumping all over me saying "Conor it's not even close. Let me make a case for BJ Penn..

A lot of new fans look at BJ's record and assume he sucks. In reality BJ was one of the P4P best fighters on the planet up to his second fight with Frankie Edgar. Then he fell off a cliff..

Before the second Frankie fight BJ was 15 - 6 - 1. His losses were as follows..

Jens Pulver - Could have went either way..

Machida - Heavyweight..

GSP 1 - Razor close split decision. Could have went either way

Matt Hughes 2 - Legit loss

GSP 2 - Legit loss

Edgar 1 - BJ should have got the decision imo..

Had it not been for bad judging and losing out on coin flip decisions, BJ could have easily been 18 - 3 - 1, with his loses being to GSP 2, Hughes 2 and heavyweight Machida. No shame in that...

Throw in that he was a UFC 2 division champion who actually defended..

So who will go down as the greater fighter?

I’ll have to go with Conor. BJ has done nothing but tarnish his legacy over the last decade. Way too many losses way too many one sided beat downs

 

[Pastinaca1]

Bj Penn will be known as the guy who most ruined a career and legacy in all history of sports.

No one ever went from champion to a bum without a single win in a fucking decade.

 

[Shaddows]

Before the newbs start jumping all over me saying "Conor it's not even close. Let me make a case for BJ Penn..

A lot of new fans look at BJ's record and assume he sucks. In reality BJ was one of the P4P best fighters on the planet up to his second fight with Frankie Edgar. Then he fell off a cliff..

Before the second Frankie fight BJ was 15 - 6 - 1. His losses were as follows..

Jens Pulver - Could have went either way..

Machida - Heavyweight..

GSP 1 - Razor close split decision. Could have went either way

Matt Hughes 2 - Legit loss

GSP 2 - Legit loss

Edgar 1 - BJ should have got the decision imo..

Had it not been for bad judging and losing out on coin flip decisions, BJ could have easily been 18 - 3 - 1, with his loses being to GSP 2, Hughes 2 and heavyweight Machida. No shame in that...

Throw in that he was a UFC 2 division champion who actually defended..

So who will go down as the greater fighter?

For anyone who watched them both, BJ Penn wins 100% of the time.

For any new fan (who joined because of Conor), They will base their decision that being popular means he is the better fighter... plus they did not see Penn at his best.

 

[Aurelian]

Of course it will be Conor because......Conor fans. This thread should have been over on the first page.

 

[snaportap21]

Before the newbs start jumping all over me saying "Conor it's not even close. Let me make a case for BJ Penn..

A lot of new fans look at BJ's record and assume he sucks. In reality BJ was one of the P4P best fighters on the planet up to his second fight with Frankie Edgar. Then he fell off a cliff..

Before the second Frankie fight BJ was 15 - 6 - 1. His losses were as follows..

Jens Pulver - Could have went either way..

Machida - Heavyweight..

GSP 1 - Razor close split decision. Could have went either way

Matt Hughes 2 - Legit loss

GSP 2 - Legit loss

Edgar 1 - BJ should have got the decision imo..

Had it not been for bad judging and losing out on coin flip decisions, BJ could have easily been 18 - 3 - 1, with his loses being to GSP 2, Hughes 2 and heavyweight Machida. No shame in that...

Throw in that he was a UFC 2 division champion who actually defended..

So who will go down as the greater fighter?

Before the newbs start jumping all over me saying "Conor it's not even close. Let me make a case for BJ Penn..

A lot of new fans look at BJ's record and assume he sucks. In reality BJ was one of the P4P best fighters on the planet up to his second fight with Frankie Edgar. Then he fell off a cliff..

Before the second Frankie fight BJ was 15 - 6 - 1. His losses were as follows..

Jens Pulver - Could have went either way..

Machida - Heavyweight..

GSP 1 - Razor close split decision. Could have went either way

Matt Hughes 2 - Legit loss

GSP 2 - Legit loss

Edgar 1 - BJ should have got the decision imo..

Had it not been for bad judging and losing out on coin flip decisions, BJ could have easily been 18 - 3 - 1, with his loses being to GSP 2, Hughes 2 and heavyweight Machida. No shame in that...

Throw in that he was a UFC 2 division champion who actually defended..

So who will go down as the greater fighter?

i'm a huge conor fan, but i'd have to say bj so far. conor gets away with a lot of stuff solely because he is left handed. in his loses he gets hit on the feet by southpaw fighters. conor has no lead hand at all. it because he's facing someone of the opposite stance. his lead hand doesnt hook or jab too impressively because it's always hand fighting and measuring distance. on top of that his rear hand is accentuated because of the angles involved. basically conor has a lot of success (and almost all other left handers) solely because people aren't used to fighting southpaws. his striking skills look a lil better than they truly are as a result. Rich Franklin is a righty who fights southpaw. mostly self taught he exploited the same issue. look at almost all his loses, though all to southpaws. more right handed people exist so you're used to fighting them even if you're a lefty as well. so once rich and conor fight a fellow southpaw (something they're not used to ) then they have trouble. similar to almost all their opponents. conor was getting tagged in the first poirier fight as well. to me this makes bj a better fighter overall. bj didn't exploit the southpaw's advantage. this is a very interesting read. in almost all sports left handed people are more likely to be elite. bj did it as a righty.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0079793

 

[Moro]

What a dumb comparison, Conor is a can next to BJ.