Remember when Fitch stole a win from BJ Penn!?

[High Altitude]

BJ comes in out of shape and under weight and still takes two rounds. Including taking down the heavier wrestler.

That's some pretty impressive shit.

 

[w00t]

I remember Penn got fuckin clobbered in the 3rd. It was one of the clearest examples of a 10-8 at the time. He won nothing. A draw was the right call.

 

[Tweak896]

I remember how watching the fight how much smaller BJ penn was, and Fitch was basically WW champ if GSP retired. Then BJ pulled off the 2 rounds of his life and won them and I was in shock. The third round came and BJ had nothing left, and was the most lopsided round of the fight. Draw sounds about right. It was like Shogun vs Hendo 1.

 

[Cooliox]

What rubbish revisionist history

2 close rounds that could have gone either way, then an utter dominant 3rd round from Fitch.

He beat BJ Penn into crying. Yes, BJ cried then announced his retirment. That's from Fitch taking him to school

If i remember it correctly, 2 draw cars, 1 win for Fitch.

If anyone was robbed, it was Jon Fitch

 

[xn7]

What rubbish revisionist history

2 close rounds that could have gone either way, then an utter dominant 3rd round from Fitch.

He beat BJ Penn into crying. Yes, BJ cried then announced his retirment. That's from Fitch taking him to school

If i remember it correctly, 2 draw cars, 1 win for Fitch.

If anyone was robbed, it was Jon Fitch

you are correct. BJ fans have always and will always be as delusional as BJ himself. like with like.

 

[613]

To this day it still annoys the fuck out of me, but does anyone remember when Fitch stole a W from BJ Penn?

Fitch tends to be a guy that we as fans kind of sniffle at, due to factors like his wrestling-centric style and the impression that he is "boring". Jon Fitch was a top 5 or 6 Welterweight for almost 10 years, people forget this.

Penn was a victim of his own bravery throughout his career, taking on all comers and taking L’s to ridiculously large opponents like Machida and even at 170, guys like MacDonald and St. Pierre. People forget how many considerably larger fighters Penn competed against and also how much success he had.

I remember Fitch pretty much laying on Penn for 4 minutes+ with the odd elbow thrown in, and the judges gifted him a 10-8 and subsequently - a draw.

I remember looking at the match-up and just being upset, felt similar to Henderson vs Thatch - where you just look at the size difference and you just cannot see him overcoming it.

Penn (in my opinion) technically embarrassed Jon Fitch for the first 10 minutes, and it pisses me off that fights like his now add to the blemishes on an "odd" record of a legend like BJ Penn.

It's more than just W's and L's on a record... Never forget The Prodigy - BJ PENN.

Do you also remember Penn saying he should have lost after?

 

[613]

It was such an interesting fight
BJ should have won for sure

BJ even said he shouldn't have won

 

[BsBan_Account#2]

Well, I can't speak for fighters in general, but for Penn, I think he just never thought he lost any fight no matter what. He cried robbery in the 2nd Edgar fight I think. The only fight he "really" lost was the time he quit after the 4th round against GSP (but of course had a ton of excuses there, too). Well, that and the last fight with Edgar.

That definitely never happened . He cried robbery in the first Edgar fight (rightfully so), but no one thought he won the 2nd fight - Not even PB

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

Do you also remember Penn saying he should have lost after?

He's like Rampage, unless he walks through his opponent he is fairly critical of himself.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

Didnt henderson best thatch though? Stopped him iirc..and he was smaller not sure u picked the right comparison here..either way 170 penn is not motivated bj penn unless its agaisnt matt hughes..so he probably did lose this fight due to bad cardio..from not training enough due to low motivation..just saying

You misunderstood what I said.

I was saying that Thatch over Henderson when you looked at them both gave me an unnerving feeling, much like Penn and Fitch, mainly because of the vast difference in size.

You are correct that Henderson beat Thatch, and in my opinion Penn beat Fitch also.

 

[Fedorer13]

Did Penn land any strikes in the 3rd round? Wasn't many if any at all. Where as Fitch landed over 100.

EDIT: Just checked the fightmetric.

2 strikes landed by BJ in r3, 1 significant. 0/0 Takedowns

149 stikes landed by Fitch, 26 significant. 3/3 Takedowns.

149 “strikes” and BJ wasn’t close to getting knocked out. Shows the quality of the strikes. Lay and pray. 10-9.

 

[Rvd Slmr]

LOL, Fitch is actually the one that got the fight scored for him. It wasn't a draw, but a majority draw (one for Fitch and two draws on the scorecard). BJ was already done by end of the second round and did nothing but get punched in the face in the third. Out of seven media, one voted Penn, one a draw and all the others a victory for Fitch.

 

[Turtlejuice]

149 “strikes” and BJ wasn’t close to getting knocked out. Shows the quality of the strikes. Lay and pray. 10-9.

Being close to being knocked out isn't in the criteria.

 

[Lemmy]

i remember that match, the third round was Fitch landing one billion of doll-house-pillow shots: 5 of the most frustrating minutes that i've ever watched in mma
Penn 29-28 imo.

 

[Fraz]

Fitch would have killed Penn if it was a real fight

 

[wake_me]

What about the win he stole from Jeff Joslin?

Sorry if mentioned, the shit I'm taking won't last long enough for me to read all 8 pages.

 

[Mike]

The surprise factor was huge in this fight; Fitch admitted he was not at all prepared for BJ to be shooting doubles on him. Not even a little bit. The strategy itself was a good one IMO, in that BJ seized the initiative in terms of the grappling department and put Fitch on the defensive. His ground game was far superior and he was able to take Fitch's back when on the ground. As so often happened in BJ's career though, it was his gas tank that failed him. If he'd just done his normal counter-box counter-wrestle thing against Fitch he would have been worn down against the fence and lost a UD. At least this way he managed to eke out a draw.

LW BJ did have the ability to go 5 hard rounds, though. He proved that against a prime Diego Sanchez that never stopped shooting for take downs that just never materialized. His cardio against Florian, Uno, and Sherk also showed that he was capable of having an elite fitness level... just not at higher weight classes that didn't require him to put in crazy amounts of training to make weight.

Thing is after the Diego fight he stopped training with Maranovich (sp?) and never looked in good shape again, or had decent cardio again.


It was common knowledge thru his camp and sparring partners that Fitch was basically impossible to sub in training. That game plan was crap because he didn't have that cardio to do it three rounds and subbing Fitch was unlikely.

As you said if he committed to counter punching and stuffing takedowns he might have been able to win a decision. He just didn't have the cardio for offensive and defensive wrestling. Even in a three rounder.


He should get down on his knees and thank baby Jesus that wasn't a five round fight. He would have been finished by Fitch for sure. And that's just embarrassing.

 

[Mike]

That was a tailor made win for BJ and he botched it by trying to wrestle with Fitch. BJ had legendary takedown defense, all he had to do was box and stop the takedowns. Everybody was kissing his ass for taking Fitch down, but it was the worst possible game plan he could've used

Yes! Thank you.

 

[EndlessCritic]

I remember Fitch pretty much laying on Penn for 4 minutes+ with the odd elbow thrown in, and the judges gifted him a 10-8 and subsequently - a draw.

http://www.mmadecisions.com/decision/2345/Jon-Fitch-vs-B.J.-Penn

You're a moron. Fitch stole Penn's soul in round 3.

 

[crlkllr]

Fitch should have won that fight.