MMA Spotlight 5.15.08: B.J. Penn - The Real UFC Lightweight Champion

Posted by Reuel Mante on 05.15.2008

The Prodigy rules the 155 pound division.




He is the Lightweight Champion. He is the Prodigy. B.J. Penn is the second man to win two UFC titles in two different weight classes. The Hawaiian legend will be defending his title on May 24th against Sean Sherk. Before I give my thoughts on the fight at UFC 84, let's take a closer look at B.J.

B.J. Penn started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1997 under Ralph Gracie. Three years later, Penn was awarded his black belt which, in case you weren't aware, is insane. Training for three years for a normal person would lead them to a brown belt at best. No wonder B.J.'s nickname is The Prodigy. In 2000, Penn entered himself in the World Series of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the Mundial World Championships. He would walk out with the gold medal which, still to this day, makes him the only non-Brazilian to win the black belt division.

Not long after his win, B.J.'s next competition came a-calling in the UFC lightweight division. Surprisingly, none of his first three wins came by submission. Din Thomas, Joey Gilbert, and Caol Uno all lost by TKO in the first round. At UFC 35, B.J. Penn earned a title shot against Jens Pulver. The odds-on favorite was B.J. Rounds one and two clearly went to The Prodigy as he would school Pulver on the ground, nearly submitting him twice. The remaining rounds saw Jens come back and control Penn in the stand-up, earning Jens the majority decision victory.

After UFC 35, Jens Pulver left the UFC and the lightweight title vacant. UFC officials held a tournament to crown the new champion. Penn defeated Matt Serra to advance to the finals against Caol Uno. UFC 41: Onslaught would feature a disaster as Caol and B.J. would fight to a draw resulting in the lightweight division abandoned for three years.

B.J. bounced back as he faced Takanori Gomi at Rumble on the Rock 4. Gomi had just finished a dominating run as Shooto's welterweight champion. At two and half minutes in the third round, The Prodigy choked out The Fireball Kid in his home state. A few months followed as the UFC was searching for credible challengers to their welterweight champion, Matt Hughes. Penn answered the call and the fight was set for UFC 46. Many fans and experts felt that B.J. was making a mistake going up in weight to fight one of the most dominant fighters in history. Well, with twenty seconds left in the first round, B.J. choked out Hughes to win his first UFC gold.

Not long after his championship victory, B.J. signed with K-1 in Japan. The UFC announced that Penn had been stripped of his title, citing a breach of contract. Without his title, B.J. went up in weight to defeat Rodrigo Gracie. Not letting himself stop there, he would go up in weight AGAIN to face Lyoto Machida and suffered his second loss by decision. There is much to be said there. Considering Penn is naturally a lightweight, he survived three rounds with a undefeated 205 lb. man. That's something! Four months later, B.J. would defeat another Gracie family member, Renzo.

In 2006, the UFC and B.J. would come to terms and UFC 56: USA vs. Canada featured the return of The Prodigy. He would drop a split decision loss to Georges St. Pierre but still earned a shot at the belt he never lost, the welterweight title. Once again, B.J. was the challenger to Matt Hughes' reign. This time, Hughes would survive two rounds despite Penn out grappling and out striking the champion. By the third round, B.J. was out of gas. Some reports state that B.J.'s ribs were injured at the end of the second. Regardless, Hughes took down the Hawaiian and proceeded to pound his way to a third round stoppage. Matt became the first and, as it stands now, only man to finish B.J. Nine months would follow this crushing defeat when Jens Pulver signed to fight in a rematch with Penn. Once again at lightweight, Penn was a vicious animal, hungry for a win. From the start, The Prodigy was all over Lil' Evil. When it looked like B.J. was going to finish Jens in the first, the bell rang. Pulver survived another three minutes in round two before tapping out to a rear naked choke. A rear naked choke, mind you, was held a little too long.

Penn was named the number one contender to Sean Sherk's lightweight championship. As you may have read an earlier article of mine, Sherk's steroid suspension was upheld and the title was declared vacant. UFC 80's main event was announced as Joe Stevenson vs. B.J. Penn for the lightweight belt. In what I believe was the most one sided title fight since Tito Ortiz/Ken Shamrock, B.J. choked out Stevenson in round two to finally be a champion once again. With the win, B.J. becomes the second man after Randy Couture to win two titles in two different weight classes in the UFC.

UFC 84: Ill Will next Saturday features Penn's first ever title defense against the man who never lost the belt, Sean Sherk. You may already know how I feel about Sherk getting a title fight so soon after suspension but it doesn't and never did make a difference. I will say, though, I'd prefer Penn fighting someone who relies on natural ability as opposed to...I don't know...synthetic ability. But let's break down the fight.

Sherk takes the cake with experience. Thirty-four fights in total with thirty-one victories. Sean is a strong wrestler with good boxing. He has trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and earned himself thirteen victories by submission. There is a mark against him: he has not finished an opponent in three years.

If you think that Sean will be able to submit B.J., then you are out of your mind. B.J. has incredible boxing skills combined with heavy hands capable of the knockouts. I have already mentioned his Jiu-Jitsu skills. Even though many state that Penn's skill is not as technical as some, it has proved to be effective. B.J. has incredible flexibility and if you have seen his fights with either Hughes or St. Pierre, he is not an easy man to take down. Whenever any fighter has taken Penn down, he has the uncanny ability to stand right back up, even on one foot. Randy Couture has actually stated that while training with B.J., he was difficult man to keep down. That's a heavyweight saying that!

Overall, B.J. has more tools to defeat Sherk. Sean's main game has been seen over and over again. Dear God, save us from a kind of fight he had with Hermes Franca! Penn's hands are good enough to knockout Sherk and his Jiu-Jitsu is scary enough to submit the Muscle Shark. I see the fight ending in the second round via armbar.

I really don't think that there are many fighters in the UFC who can stand on the same pedestal that B.J. is on, especially now that we've seen how dangerous he is with his new dedication to be the best. His cardio has improved, his reflexes are as sharp as ever, and he's the champ. What else do we need to see for The Prodigy to be taken seriously? As B.J. said after beating Joe Stevenson, "Sean Sherk! You're dead!"