Was BJ Penn taking on GSP the most ambitious step up in competition ever?

[TheToqueville]

Its the hw division. If you dont weight 265lbs, thats your own damn fault. Gsp fought under rules of mma. He kod the mw champ. How many kos does jony have?

Jones weighs in at 205, while Brock has to cut to make the HW max limit at 265. I know its tough but try to keep up.

Also, it isn't too hard to KO a guy with one eye whos pushing 40. Did you notice that when the legit MW competition wanted to fight GSP, he suddenly got a magical case of colitis? How coincidental and convenient!

GSP has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the very few fighters who tapped to strikesLOL.... to a midget no less. He also has the distinction of being the only fighter to go almost 10 years without being able to finish a single opponent.

On the other hand, Jones has never even been rocked let alone beaten by another man in the octagon. NOONE else can say the same, sadly.

 

[jsbx45]

it was a step down in competition for BJ GOAT. That was Prime, Motivated Prodigy time back then. How dare you.

 

[FreddieRoachsVoice]

Tough to say considering Penn was legit the #1 guy in his division at the time, had previously fought successfully at the weight class, and he arguably won the first fight (at the very least hurt GSP badly). Other contenders:

- Wanderlei fighting Mark Hunt at HW (stylistically, this is insanity)
- Hendo fighting Fedor at HW not to mention Wanderlei, Rampage, and Anderson back to back when he could have easily taken easier fights at MW
- Randy Couture fighting Tim and Gonzaga after getting KO'd into retirement
- Randy fighting Prime Machida with his last opponent being JAMES TONEY
- JDS fighting Werdum, the #1 contender, in his UFC debut
- Will also give a shout-out to Brett Rogers for fighting Fedor with his only significant win being a 22 second stoppage over glass jawed Arlovski aka not impressive for any HW

I remember there were rumors that Hendo was considering fighting JDS for the HW in 2012 when Reem was pulled from the card... that would have been the undisputed #1 of all time if that happened:
https://www.mmamania.com/2012/4/6/2...-take-fight-with-junior-dos-santos-at-ufc-146

Hendo = #1 ballsiest in MMA history IMHO

 

[IloveTHIS]

Sigh, sherdog never changes.

Conor lost to the best LW of all time so now hes trash and would never beat anyone...

Conor would have made basic ass stick in the mud Woodley freeze up and get butchered to a decision loss.

 

[gono btw]

and couldn't beat prime Pulver.

Pulver was literally saved by the bell, armbar locked.

 

[DanMMAleague]

Imposing his will by the end of the round

More like looking to his corner for ideas.

If it is revisionist, you are trying to revise it.

Penn jabbed GSP about 50 times in the first round for no reason other than GSP engaged in a lot of boxing exchanges against a far superior boxer.

GSP was also knocked out on the feet against Matt Serra soon after this and Penn was winning all his fights as a striker at this point (unlike Serra).

He bypassed boxing range for a lot of his other fights until he started working with Freddie Roach.

 

[boss429]

There's a difference between difference of opinion and being a fucking idiot Conor nut hugger and trying to put him into every argument to make him seam better than he is.

Conor fought a LW at WW because Nate didn't have time to Cut.

BJ before fighting GSP (the second time), had already become the WW champ beating legit WW's, and also fought at LHW against Machida.

Your claim that it was the "biggest step up in UFC history" is fucking laughable. Go find another Conor thread to ride his dick in (just don't create one, otherwise I'll have to ban you).

BJ actually fought Machida at open weight, BJ was around 195 Machida 225.

He did indeed win the WW belt previously though when the UFC shut down his division and he decided to fight for the WW belt after taking a quick break from the UFC to go beat the #1 LW at the time (Gomi) in Hawaii.

It was his WW debut against the man, who at the time, was considered to be the second best WW in the world (behind Sakurai) in a fight very few thought he stood a chance in.

Being the bad motherfucker he was though BJ won the belt almost effortlessly then threw it in the garbage and left the UFC again and he did all this in less than 3 years and 10 career fights.

 

[gono btw]

That first fight is the victim of some of the most biased revisionist history in combat sports history.

Penn clipped the tip of GSP's nose in the 1st round, causing it to break and bleed. Despite that fortuitous graze, GSP was still imposing his will by the end of that round and ended it on top (Penn still won the round 10-9).

Next two rounds were clear-cut 10-9's for GSP, anyone who argues hasn't watched the fight for themselves or is an idiot. People see "split decision" and think it was close. It was competitive, but not close in scoring.

Penn's corner was dejected and downcast, and GSP's was rejoicing. Eddie Bravo had the fight for Georges (did scoring for the viewers at the time), and so did everyone. The only person who had it for BJ Penn? Cecil fucking Peoples. Enough said.

"Revisionist" > very true.

1st: that was not an eye poke, see above ITT



2nd:this is what ya call "imposin´ his will":



= a natural WW reduced to L&P against a natural LW.
In other words: a WW workin´hard for the TD, landin´on top of the BJJ practionner, and sudenly rememberin´ that this was no guard for him.



Now, No Rush technically "won" the last 2 Rds, coz...well.. this is/was the UFC´s Scoring Ideology.

 

[Regius]

Jones weighs in at 205, while Brock has to cut to make the HW max limit at 265. I know its tough but try to keep up.

Also, it isn't too hard to KO a guy with one eye whos pushing 40. Did you notice that when the legit MW competition wanted to fight GSP, he suddenly got a magical case of colitis?

GSP has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the very few fighters who tapped to strikesLOL.... to a midget no less. He also has the distinction of being the only fighter to go almost 10 years without being able to finish a single opponent.

On the other hand, Jones has never even been rocked let alone beaten by another man in the octagon. NOONE else can say the same, sadly.

Jon Jones is a known PED cheater and has fought in the weakest division throughout his career just the fact that he had to use PEDs in order to achieve success disqualifies him from the GOAT talks . The same exact thing goes for Anderson.
All of you GSP haters were so eager to watch him to move up for all these years since he was untouchable at the toughest division at that time and they fought that he would find his match in a weak division (MW) and even when he moved up (After a 4 year lay-off and another ACL surgery) you first said he was going to get whooped then you found new excuses about him after he whooped Bisping , It must have been really disappointing to watch GSP whoop a guy who whooped your idol Anderson.
Yet you try to find every excuse in the book to justify Jones not moving up to HW while his division is literally dead and has been so for years.

Sadly you will never see GSP lose again and you will never see a fighter prove it long-term that he is better than him , Stay mad.

 

[ThunderStruck]

Prime BJ had the biggest balls in the UFC

You mean the biggest amount of yes-men in the ufc?

 

[Regius]

Good thing GSP never touched a performance enhancer in his life....

All natty bro!
View attachment 587957

View attachment 587959

Are you accusing him of doing steroids without having any proof ? When people cant handle the facts they resort to illusional made-up narratives and thars the last resort of somehow degrading GSP greatness by his haters . Too bad his legacy is already cemented as the greatest to ever do it.

 

[Local Plata]

What about BJ Penn taking on heavy weight Machida?

Well Machida wasn't really known back then, except to random hardcores that followed stuff outside of UFC/Pride. He was only like 4 or 5 and 0 at the time with a win over Rich Franklin (who was also not all that well known at the time). It looks crazy in retrospect, but really wasn't that nuts at the time especially since BJ just bounced from the UFC and Japanese MMA was fucking ridiculous back then.

 

[CroCopsLHK]

people forgot that penn fucked up gsp's eye pretty bad with eye poke and was essentially fighting blind

believe it or not I never watched that fight. I'm a BJ nuthugger and I don't like watching him lose. I just heard a little overview on the fight

 

[CroCopsLHK]

That first fight is the victim of some of the most biased revisionist history in combat sports history.

Penn clipped the tip of GSP's nose in the 1st round, causing it to break and bleed. Despite that fortuitous graze, GSP was still imposing his will by the end of that round and ended it on top (Penn still won the round 10-9).

Next two rounds were clear-cut 10-9's for GSP, anyone who argues hasn't watched the fight for themselves or is an idiot. People see "split decision" and think it was close. It was competitive, but not close in scoring.

Penn's corner was dejected and downcast, and GSP's was rejoicing. Eddie Bravo had the fight for Georges (did scoring for the viewers at the time), and so did everyone. The only person who had it for BJ Penn? Cecil fucking Peoples. Enough said.

Never actually watched the fight. Big BJ Penn fan but if he lost I usually only saw the fight in real time (I.E. GSP 2, Rory Macdonald, Diaz, Rodriguez, etc)

 

[gono btw]

Well Machida wasn't really known back then, except to random hardcores that followed stuff outside of UFC/Pride. He was only like 4 or 5 and 0 at the time with a win over Rich Franklin (who was also not all that well known at the time). It looks crazy in retrospect, but really wasn't that nuts at the time especially since BJ just bounced from the UFC and Japanese MMA was fucking ridiculous back then.

BJ actually wanted [HW] Fujita, not Machida.

 

[Regius]

BJ actually wanted [HW] Fujita, not Machida.

Also GSP originally wanted Luke(Huge MW who seemed to be in his prime) , Too bad Bisping knocked his head off.

 

[Xoleth]

 

[champbless2]

Cm punk fighting Mickey Gall was bigger step up

 

[Harmonica]

"Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor technique has a place in this. A real man does not think of victory or defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death."

- Ikuhisa Minowa

 

[Throttlehead]

The myth will never match the record.