BJ Penn: Much Respect

Upon reading the Sherdog message boards, I came across this post concerning BJ Penn: http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?p=15710527#post15710527. This knowledgeable poster wrote about why BJ Penn is so respected with the intent of enlightening the newer fans who have only paid attention to the MMA world of the last two years. Upon reading, I thought to myself: how can people not give BJ Penn the utmost respect?

Coming off his masterful win over Jens Pulver last Saturday night in the Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale, the newer fight fans saw finally saw Penn in top shape as he put on a Brazilian jiu-jitsu clinic. Penn masterfully executed a perfect rear-naked choke midway through the second round, tying Pulver’s left arm down with his left leg, which left Pulver defenseless as Penn was free to choke him until he tapped. The victory came at the right time for Penn, and he no doubt gained many fans as a result; but before the fight, many of the new fans questioned Penn’s legitimacy, as he was coming off two straight defeats, the last one a brutal loss to Matt Hughes in the third round of their championship fight. Why all the hype? In order to understand why Penn is so respected by knowledgeable fans, one must go back to the beginning, much further back than the last three fights…

Penn first started training seriously in martial arts when he took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Ralph Gracie in 1997. In 2000, he was awarded his black belt by Andre Pederneiras of Nova Uniao—that’s right, he became a BJJ black belt in three years. Three years to become a black belt in jiu-jitsu is practically unheard of—to date he is the fastest American to achieve the prestigious rank. Along the way, Penn entered tournaments with unreal success- in his first tournament, he won both his weight and the open weight class. In June 1997 he entered the Joe Moriera tournament in the blue belt category and won his weight class, even though he was a white belt at the time—and this was only his second tournament!

Penn at the Joe Moriera tournament (notice legend Rickson Gracie is the ref)

In 2000, Penn became the first non-Brazilian to win the gold medal in the black belt division of the Mundial World Championships held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Needless to say, his jiu-jitsu is of the highest order and respected by the worlds greatest grapplers.

Penn winning the Mundial World Championship:

Because of his accomplishments in the jiu-jitsu world, Penn debuted in the UFC, which is fairly unheard of today (due in large part to the sprouting of minor MMA organizations). His first opponent, Joey Gilbert, was easily dismantled, and the fight was called in the first round due to a barrage of strikes. Penn’s next fight was against Din Thomas, who at the time was riding an impressive seven win-streak and had an overall record of 10-1, including a win over Jens Pulver and a very close loss to Caol Uno. At this time, Thomas was a huge favorite, and a win would have put him in line for a rematch with Jens Pulver, who had gained the LW since their last fight. Penn put a beating on Thomas, knocking him out two minutes into the first round. This fight completely shocked the MMA world and derailed Thomas' (and most likely the UFC management's) plan for a title shot.

The UFC then gave Penn his strongest test yet-- sort of a "how good is he really?" challenge-- in the form of a bout with Caol Uno, the only man who had previously defeated Din Thomas. Uno was one of the top fighters at this time, and had previously fought to a draw with Andre Pederneiras, who had awarded Penn his blackbelt. Penn knocked him out in 11 seconds via brutal punches to his head.

Penn then fought Jens Pulver, and lost a close decision. Penn almost closed out the fight with a tight arm-bar, but Pulver was saved by the bell as the round ended. After that fight, Penn then beat Paul Creighton by TKO, and won a decision over Matt Serra (the present UFC LW champ) and then fought to a very controversial draw in a rematch against Uno.

After that fight, Penn put together his own promotion to challenge then unbeaten Takanori Gomi, who had been tearing up the Shooto Organization (two months before the fight, Gomi lost his first decision, to Joachim Hansen, but when the fight was put together the intent was for Penn to prove he was the best fighter in the world). Penn submitted Gomi with a rear-naked choke in the third round.

Penn vs. Gomi:

Penn then returned to the UFC, moving up to the 170 lb division in defeating welter-weight champion Matt Hughes, who at the time was arguably considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. Following that fight, Penn easily submitted Duane Ludwig, who had come off recent wins against Pulver and Genki Sudo. He then took on undefeated jiu-jitsu great Rodrigo Gracie, winning a decision over the man who many had crowned as the next great Gracie fighter. He moved up to the middle-weight division (185 lbs) to fight Gracie, a full 30 pounds up from his ideal fighting weight.

In May 2005, Penn fought in K-1 and faced Ryoto “Lyoto” Machida, fighting in a division over 50 pounds heavier than he had originally started fighting in—and was defeated in a close decision. Ryoto Machida is still undefeated, and had previously dominated Rich Franklin and Stephan Bonnar. BJ Penn took on a guy fighting at heavyweight and barely lost (imagine Oscar De La Hoya fighting against Lennox Lewis).

BJ Penn takes on a 205 lbs Ryoto Machida:

Penn then defeated Brazilian jiu-jitsu master Renzo Gracie in unanimous decision, before returning to the UFC to fight against Georges St. Pierre. St. Pierre had only one previous loss, to Matt Hughes, and it was very close fight. Penn dominated the first round. The second round could have gone either way, and the third round GSP won decisively. Penn thought he had done enough to win the fight and had clearly done more physical damage to Pierre than Pierre had inflicted upon him, but the judges scored the fight as win for Pierre in split decision.

Penn’s next fight and first back-to-back loss came in a re-match with Matt Hughes, a fight that Penn took on four weeks notice. It seems that this fight is where poor opinions of Penn originate. After dominating the first two rounds, with Hughes being arguably saved by the bell in the second, Penn came out completely flat and defenseless in the third round. and Hughes brutally punched him in the head before the ref called the fight. Everyone criticized Penn for not coming into the fight in shape, thinking he had completely gassed. What people failed to realize is that Penn popped a rib in the second round, a freak accident that had nothing to do with Hughes offense, but just happened when he was going for a routine position change. With that fight came critics who deemed Penn his own worst enemy, saying that his cardio was weak. But the reality is that aside from the fight against Georges St. Pierre, Penn has never actually gassed to a damaging degree in a fight.

With his completely one-sided victory against Pulver, Penn looks to be in the best fighting shape of his life. MMA math, never perfect, says that Penn means trouble for whoever he fights, whichever division that may be—even if he’s fighting someone 50+ lbs over what he weighed in at for his fight against Pulver. What the future holds for him is in his hands (and Dana White’s), but one thing is for sure: BJ Penn deserves much respect.