The Greatest MMA Column 01.17.09: The Biggest Fight Ever! (Part One)

Posted by Dan Plunkett on 01.17.2009

In this week's edition of "The Greatest MMA Column," 411's Dan Plunkett takes a look at the history leading up to the upcoming St. Pierre vs. Penn II. This week in part one, Dan takes you from Penn's UFC debut all the way to the announcement of his comeback at UFC 56! Also, in this week's Fight of the Week, we see a classic fight for the UFC Welterweight Title! So come on in and follow St. Pierre and Penn's rise to the top!

The Biggest Fight Ever

January 31, 2009 is a date you will remember forever. On that date, Georges St. Pierre, the UFC Welterweight Champion, will fight UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn for the second time. Two of the top four pound-for-pound fighters in the world will collide, with the winner possibly becoming the best fighter in the world. Five years earlier, Penn upset Matt Hughes to capture the UFC Welterweight Championship in a stunning upset; can he capture lightning in a bottle twice? We'll look at that next week, but first, a history lesson on both fighters to see how they crossed paths.

The date was May 5, 2001. The event: UFC 31: Locked and Loaded. It was then when BJ Penn made his mixed martial arts debut. The highly touted Hawaiian was a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, after training only about three years in the art, that is less than a third of the time it takes most people to get their black belt. On top of that, "The Prodigy" as they called him, won the gold medal in the 2000 Mundial World Championships, an absolutely incredible feat. That night in May, Penn took on Joey Gilbert, and as expected, Penn walked right through his opponent, but instead of the anticipated submission finish, Penn stopped him in the first round due to strikes. The UFC then brought in Din Thomas, a guy who was on a seven fight win streak, including a submission victory over then UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver. For his first fight in the UFC, Thomas was matched up against Penn. BJ was the underdog against Thomas, who was one of the best lightweights in the world at the time. Penn took the fight right to the ground, but when they stood back up it would be the beginning of the end. After Thomas stood up put of Penn's guard, Penn landed a big knee and stopped Thomas in the first round, once again due to strikes. It was here that we got out first real glimpse at BJ's full potential; two wins due to strikes in the first round, from a ground specialist no less!

BJ's next fight was looking to be his biggest test; Caol Uno had finished Din Thomas, and had gone the distance with champion Jens Pulver, making him one of the world's top lightweights. The winner of this fight was going to receive a title shot, and it didn't take very long to see who Pulver's next challenger would be. Uno came out and threw a flying kick that missed, and then Penn dropped him with combination and a few more punches later it was over; just eleven seconds after it started, BJ Penn had knocked out Caol Uno.

His next fight was set; it was Pulver vs. Penn at UFC 35: Throwdown on January 11, 2002. Penn seemed unstoppable at this point, he had heavy hands, a world class ground game, a great killer instinct, and had just finished two of the world's best in the first round, in only his second and third fights. So in his fourth fight against UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver, Penn was deemed a 3-1 favorite, a fact which drove Pulver to prove the naysayers wrong. The fight came and Penn took the first round, but it may have been a mini victory for Pulver as he was the first to go to the second round with the unstoppable beast. In the second round, Penn dominated Pulver, taking him down and eventually mounting him. At the end of the round, Penn secured a picture perfect armbar on Pulver, to which Pulver tapped out to, but the horn sounded signifying the end of the round before he tapped, so we are onto another round. That's when things started to turn around, and did they ever turn around. Jens Pulver won the next three rounds, earning him a decision victory.

BJ eats a left from Pulver.


Just two weeks later in Montreal, a 20 year old Canadian by the name of Georges St. Pierre was making his professional MMA debut. The young St. Pierre had a difficult childhood, growing up poor and getting beat up for money and clothes. He started Kyokushin Karate classes at the age of seven and never looked back from there. His opponent was the 4-0 Ivan Menjivar, little did Mr. Menjivar know at the time, he would be the first one to feel ‘da riddum' of Georges St. Pierre, and boy did he ever. Georges stopped him in the first round due to strikes, and with the win he set the tone for his future.

BJ Penn was looking to come off of his first career loss strong, and he had the chance to do that against Paul Creighton. Penn used his flexibility to stop take downs, and ended up stopping him due to strikes from the mount. While it wasn't an impressive victory for Penn, at least it got him back on the winning path.

Georges' next fight was to take place on June 15, against Justin Bruckmann. "Rush" would show another dimension to his game here, submitting Bruckmann in the first round.

UFC 39 brought the first round of the Lightweight Title Tournament. Jens Pulver had been stripped of the title after he left the UFC due to a contract dispute. Penn was set to take on Matt Serra, a talented BJJ fighter in his own right, to decide who would face Caol Uno (who had beaten Din Thomas earlier in the night) for the UFC Lightweight Championship. In the end, BJ won an unimpressive unanimous decision (ESPN.com's Bill Simmons called his performance "lackluster").

Georges St. Pierre was set to take on Travis Galbraith in October in Montreal. Once again, St. Pierre stopped his opponent in the first round, this time due to strikes. The next time out GSP would take on Thomas Denny in January of 2003, who for the first time in his short career took him out of the first round. In the second, the fight was stopped due to a cut Denny sustained.

Fact: Nobody can 'andle da riddum


At UFC 41 Penn was to rematch Caol Uno, this time for the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship. Penn came out and easily took the first round. The second round saw Penn get taken down not once, not twice, but three times! Those takedowns gave Uno the round. The third round was close, with both men scoring takedowns, Penn taking Uno's back, and Uno shakes him off and ends the round on top. In the fourth, Penn got some takedowns, and took Uno's back twice, which should give him the round. In the final round, Penn takes Uno down and takes his back again, seemingly assuring him the victory. In the official decision, one judge gave it to Penn, another to Uno, and the third judge scored it a 48-48 draw. The decision was terrible, and it's pretty much accepted today that Penn won that fight.

After the fight Penn took about eight months off, returning in October for the Rumble on the Rock promotion, taking on Takanori Gomi in a fight billed as the world's #1 lightweight (Penn) taking on the world's #2 lightweight (Gomi). Two months before the fight happened, Gomi lost to future Dream Lightweight Grandprix winner Joachim Hansen. Though the loss took the luster out of the fight, Penn still proved he was the best in the world, dominating Gomi before submitting him in the third round.

St. Pierre was fighting his toughest opponent to date against Pete Spratt, who was coming off of a victory over Robbie Lawler at UFC 42. A win here would mean a lot to GSP's future, and it turned out to do so. St. Pierre submitted Spratt in the first round. After that St. Pierre got the chance of a lifetime when the UFC came knocking on his door.

Penn's next fight was scheduled for January 31, 2004. He would be moving up in weight for the first time in his career to fight Matt Hughes for the UFC Welterweight Championship. At the time of this fight, Matt Hughes was unstoppable. He had successfully defended his title a record five times, and was looked at as the best, most dominant fighter in the sport. Also scheduled to fight on not only that night, but on the very same card was 22 year old Georges St. Pierre. "Rush" would be taking on Karo Parisyan, who had won his UFC debut against Dave Strasser, and his only losses had come to former UFC Welterweight Title contender Sean Sherk.

St. Pierre came out and won all three rounds against Parisyan, winning a unanimous decision and establishing himself as a fighter to watch at 170.

Penn and Hughes came out and stood for a bit, until Hughes shot in for the takedown, which was something that he never was denied of…until now. Hughes ended up on his back, and with Penn on top that is a very dangerous position. With about one minute remaining in the first round, Penn landed a huge right hand to a downed Hughes that clearly stunned him. Penn took the mount and then Hughes gave up his back, and Penn sunk in the rear naked choke for a huge upset. After the fight, Penn kissed Hughes, why am I mentioning it? Because I find it to be a funny awkward moment, that's why.

I'm saddened I couldn't find a picture of the kiss. But this will do.


Penn would never defend his welterweight crown. Instead, he opted to go and sign with K-1. Due to this, Penn was stripped of the welterweight title and started a legal battle with the UFC. Penn fought Duane "Bang" Ludwig in May for K-1, defeating him via an arm triangle choke.

"Rush" would return to the octagon again at UFC 48 to take on Jay Hieron. All it took was a little under two minutes for GSP to stop Hieron due to strikes, with the quick victory; St. Pierre catapulted himself into a contender in the welterweight division.

With Penn leaving the UFC, they were left with no Welterweight Champion. And this St. Pierre was thrown into a title fight with Matt Hughes, one of his hero's in MMA. The fight took place at UFC 50 in October. As well noted, GSP wouldn't look at Hughes during the stare down; instead, he chose to admire the lighting crew's work. The fight starts out with St. Pierre landing on the feet, and then he takes Matt Hughes down, which nobody was expecting. Once back on their feet, Hughes goes for the takedown which is initially sprawled nicely by St. Pierre, but Hughes eventually gets his way. After St. Pierre gets to his feet, he lands a Loiseau-like spinning back kick, which sends Hughes reeling into the fence. Then Hughes takes Georges down again. St. Pierre goes for a kimura again, which he went for earlier while on his back, but this time Hughes counters beautifully and puts St. Pierre in an armbar. With literally one second left in the round, St. Pierre taps and Matt Hughes is once again the UFC Welterweight Champion.

Meanwhile, BJ Penn is preparing for his first step up to the middleweight division, that's right, the guy whose ideal fighting weight is 155 pounds, will fight at 185 pounds. If you couldn't tell before, BJ Penn is completely insane, not that that's a bad thing. In the end, Penn won a unanimous decision over Rodrigo Gracie.

St. Pierre went back to his roots, fighting one last time for the TKO organization. On this January 2005 night, his opponent was Dave Strasser, the guy who had lost to Karo Parisyan at UFC 44 via kimura, well apparently he still didn't know how to defend the hold, as St. Pierre won via kimura under two minutes into the fight. After getting back on track, GSP was looking to become a title contender in the UFC again.

By this point, BJ Penn was pretty much certifiably insane. He announced that he would fight undefeated Lyoto Machida, in an open weight fight. Penn came into the fight at a fat, out of shape 187 pounds, while Machida weighed 215 pounds. And finally, after moving up in weight and testing his limits so many times, BJ Penn lost for the first time since he fought Jens Pulver. Even though it was a close loss, it seemed to put at least some sense back into "the prodigy."

St. Pierre returned to the UFC to fight Jason "Mayhem" Miller. St. Pierre dominated him, winning a unanimous decision, and broke the hearts of Mayhem Monkeys throughout the world.

Penn then moved back to middleweight, where he took on another Gracie, this time, it was Renzo. With the home fight advantage, Penn defeated Renzo in a well earned unanimous decision.

St. Pierre's next fight was against Frank Trigg, who was at the time the worlds #2 welterweight. As so many of Georges' previous fights, this fight didn't make it out of the first round. St. Pierre dominated from the time the bell rang to when Trigg tapped out to his rear naked choke. His next opponent was Sean Sherk, a powerful wrestler whose only loss had come to Matt Hughes in a five round decision. Sherk managed to make it out of the first round, but that doesn't mean that St. Pierre was any less dominant in this fight than he was against Trigg. After breaking Sean's nose, the referee intervened and declared St. Pierre the victor due to strikes.

That same night the UFC had two major announcements. One was that Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock were going to fight after coaching the third season of The Ultimate Fighter. The other announcement was the one certain prodigy from Hawaii was making his way back to the UFC. His name: "Baby" Jay Dee "BJ" "The Prodigy" Penn!

Come back next week for part 2 of the history between these two! We'll take a look at their first fight, how their paths have crossed again, and the importance of their upcoming second fight!

Fight of the Week
In this edition of the fight of the week, we take a look at the first fight between Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes in a fight for the vacant Welterweight Championship.


That's it for this week; don't forget to come back next week for part 2 of the biggest fight ever! As always (excluding last week), here's MMA Live!