Sonnen: Prime BJ Penn Could Have Beaten Khabib

[Doctor Grudge]

Why are people giggling that BJ Penn struggled with Frankie Edgar? Frankie Edgar was a great fighter and is still quite good - because he's a featherweight...uh? okay, I mean Khabib's last 2 wins were against featherweights also...featherweights can fight lightweights - duh.

I've seen Khabib get tagged by Michael Johnson and Al Laquinta - he will certainly get boxed up in round 1 and 2 by BJ Penn. Its' not going to be easy for him to close the distance against Penn wtih out taking some hits, and even then he has to be careful on how he approaches someone with aggressive submissions like Penn. Khabib hasn't fought a grappler in a long time, much less one with striking (and Penn has great take down defense on top of that).

BJ Penn has fought a lot of guys with amazing cardio, this idea that he will break against any energizer is not true - GSP vs Penn 2 was an exception not the norm. Diego Sanchez, Kenny Florian, Frankie Edgar, Matt Hughes, Jon Fitch, George St Pierre all have great cardio. Diego Sanchez has a comparable style to Khabib actually, he's just way worse than Khabib in every way except cardio.

Like I said on paper he matches up incredibly well with Khabib. It would just come down to is he good enough, because skill set wise it's basically exactly what you would want in a fighter to deal with Khabib's style.

If BJ Penn was a modern fighter with his specialties (BJJ and boxing) and talent in those specialties, he WOULD beat Khabib.

But BJ Penn was not a modern fighter.

BJJ in 2005 focused on bullshit techniques like the guard, triangle chokes, etc. Focusing on those skills is a guaranteed path for a wrestler to just stay on top of you and fuck you up.

MMA boxing in 2005 had no footwork. BJ would get eaten alive by a modern wrestle boxer.

All these morons say MMA hasn't evolved since 2005 because we still train in the same disciplines. That's true. But the individual disciplines themselves have evolved tremendously. 2020 BJJ > 2005 BJJ, 2020 MMA boxing > 2005 MMA boxing. By a landslide. We know which techniques in each discipline are high % and specialize in those, while ignoring low % bullshit like the guard that 2005 guys spent half their training time on.

BJ Penn's boxing is modern. Most boxer wrestlers today still barely throw jabs dude. BJ Penn was way ahead of his time in boxing, his striking would look fine today.

 

[ThunderStruck]

Prime Penn had the best TDD I've ever seen at lightweight. To this day, far beyond anything we've seen from any lightweight. His ability to stop takedowns, or otherwise get up from them is far better than we see today.

It will never happen, but prime Penn versus Khabib would be fun. Same Penn who easily shrugged off over 25 takedowns from a former middleweight over 25 minutes.

Former MW who is actually FW sized. Calm down.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

the bj penn who took on gomi certanly couldve beat khabib, that was a monster.