Sonnen: Prime BJ Penn Could Have Beaten Khabib

BJ drew with Jon Fitch, who had a 20-1 streak, mostly using wrestling against a pure wrestler a weight class or two above him. Fitch had outwrestled virtually everyone he fought except GSP to that point. BJ did tire badly, but he had no business at 170, so hard to say exactly.

At 155 Florian pushed him against the cage for 3 rounds, but didn't get a single takedown and Marinovitch BJ at 155 didn't tire much at all.

BJ might not beat Kabib, but he stacks up decently on paper.
 
I think some people here have forgotten how good prime Penn was. Hughes was a dominant, multiple time defending WW champ when Penn beat him, & after beating Hughes, many regarded Penn was #1 P4P. Prime Penn gave GSP a hell of a fight, a very good, competitive split decision. I regard GSP as the GOAT, so if Penn could put up that kind of fight vs GSP, why couldn't he possibly beaten Khabib. Even GSP at times had trouble getting Penn down, & Penn had excellent boxing to go along with excellent TDD. To put into context, imagine if Khabib lost to Usman or Colby or Tyron in a close, competitive split decision. Penn was much smaller than GSP too
 
Gimme a break. Plant current day Khabib into the ufc 10-15 years ago and people would be comparing him to a cyborg or alien
 
Prime Penn was one of the best to do it

He had amazing hands , great ground game
etc
He was very very good

I see him out striking Khabib on th feet if it went to ground not sure how it would go because Penn was also very dominant in the ground

We are talking about Penn in his prime he was monster and he used to make them bleed Ferguson style
 
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seems like a classic case of ''fighting has evolved, those old guys couldn't live with guys today'' which is of course, is horseshit
 
Prime BJ penn is one of the most overated fighters ever
 
It's an opinion to get people talking and it's done that.

Khabib would destroy him.
 
TheSpider said:
Prime Penn arguably beat GSP when he was severely outsized in their first fight and subbed prime Hughes to win the WW belt as a natural FW/LW. Prime Penn vs Khabib would be a pick em imo
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Disagree about it being a pick'em. you know im a GSP nuthugger but I think considering Penn's fights with GSP and especially the first, how well he did. Plus against Hughes, its a no brainer pick for prime BJ for me.
 
This is a tough one for me. Khabib being my fav fighter right now, and BJ one of my all time fav fighters. Both of them do it the way its supposed to be done imo.

BJ was more dynamic and a lot more fun to watch, but also much more inconsistent than khabib. If the two of them showed up at their absolute best, it would be close. Sonnen is right he's the closest out of anyone else in LW history i can think of.

I might still give the edge to khabib, because he's yet to show any weakness. BJ had a couple holes even at his best.
 
No Skill Gap said:
First off all the title is clickbait, Sonnen didn't even say that. He said Penn would come out on one side of the bracket and Khabib would come out on the other side of the bracket for the GOAT LW.

Second, yes Penn probably could beat him, a prime Penn. Whoever said he couldn't...yeah he's been washed up and yes overall the talent pool and skill has increased since Penn's prime era, but Penn was the LW Goat, still is really...and his tools translate stylistically to beat Khabib potentially.

Penn did lose to GSP but it was a competitive fight too relatively, that was a prime Penn. So it's easy to see how he could remain competitive or beat Khabib at 155.

Third, everyone needs to stop dick riding recency bias so hard. Who has Khabib even fucking beat? Let's be real here. Everyone bashes McGregor for no title defenses but who has Khabib beat? He beat Al Iaquinta, a journeyman, for the title and then he beat McGregor (easily his best win) and Porier - who's not some amazing name in reality. He beat a FW for a vacant title.

Khabib is undefeated and he's a great fighter, but let's not go full Joe Rogan and crown him as the GOAT of his division like Rousey and Holloway were without fully deserving it.

Khabib needs to defend his belt and beat at least 2-3 more legit - elite opponents before we can talk about him being such an amazing figure. Really, let's slow it down. His 2nd and 3rd best wins ever are against Dustin Porier and RDA prior to a title run/steroid cycle. He should have a loss to Tibau on his record.
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Khabib> whatever version penn
It wouldnt even be close
 
I have to agree. People have no idea about prime bj penn.
 
ConditFan said:
Penn was a monster. Beating Lws,WWs, and MWs. Fighting machida at 220lbs to a decision.

Not saying he would win but it's possible. Dude took Hughes back and choked him out in a Rd.

Who here thinks khaibib could beat Usman? Or Hughes
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Khabib would absolutely beat Hughes.
 
So people are bringing up the Fitch fight but we're just going to ignore the 2 Edgar fights before that?

I'd favour Khabib his Takedowns against the cage are relentless and he can box decently too.

His best LW win Sherk got handily beat by Edgar a year later.
Kenflo was tricky but didn't excel enough in any facet of the game to be championship level
Sanchez tough as a rock but very limited and could go to war with anybody but he he was a good top control artist with decent at best takedowns and very stiff and wild striking.

The first time Penn gets matched up by a legit wrestler at LW he loses a razor close fight and clearly loses the rematch.
 
He wouldnt. Khabib would maul him and tire him out way too easily.

With that said, Prime BJ vs Conor would of been a fight to see
 
BJ would beat up Khabib for a bit then gas.

Baby Jay always had bad gas. Even when Motivated.
 
Maronivich trained BJ Penn was an awesome force of nature!

That was when he was at his best!
 
I think real MMA fans know that prime BJ Penn would have given Khabib hell
 
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