The Greatest MMA Column 01.31.09: The Biggest Fight Ever! (Part Three)

Posted by Dan Plunkett on 01.31.2009

In the much anticipated final installment of the three part series, 411's Dan Plunkett takes you from BJ Penn getting another shot at Matt Hughes, despite losing to St. Pierre at UFC 58, all the way up to present day. Plus, if you thought you couldn't be any more excited for St. Pierre/Penn 2, you have another thing coming in this last Saturday edition of The Greatest MMA Column before it moves to Thursdays!

The Biggest Fight Ever

UFC 58 was over. Georges St. Pierre had defeated BJ Penn by decision and was now on his way to a rematch with Matt Hughes for the welterweight crown. Just a month before that could happen; St. Pierre injured himself training for the upcoming battle. Who in the world would take a fight with Matt Hughes, the greatest welterweight of all time on just one months notice? The answer was, who else, BJ Penn.

Penn was oozing confidence prior to the bout, thinking he had Matt Hughes' number, and saying that he wanted to hold three belts simultaneously, a goal which he still strives to achieve today. BJ also made an ideal opponent for Hughes, not because he thought he could steamroll him to victory, but because he wanted to avenge his January 31, 2004 loss to "The Prodigy." Since that fight, Hughes had not lost; going 5-0 with wins over St. Pierre, Frank Trigg, and the legendary Royce Gracie. On the other side of the octagon, BJ had gone a meager 3-2 since then, and had been poorly conditioned for his fight against St. Pierre, something which wouldn't fly when fighting cardio-machine Matt Hughes.

The real fight got started before the fighters even stepped foot in the octagon; it was a battle of entrance music. Penn came out to his usual music, which Wikipedia claims to be "a medley of E Ala E and Hawai'i '78 by the late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole." But right when they drag out the "E" for the second time, Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" took over, which perfectly fits BJ's personality and why he does not use this mix more often I may never know. It was now Hughes' turn to enter, he waited for what must have seemed like an eternity for his music to sound through the arena, before he fought BJ, he wanted him to know that he was more musically savvy than Penn in picking a suitable tune for his entrance. As the opening cords of Matt Hughes' usual entrance music, Hank Williams Jr.'s "A Country Boy Can Survive," Hughes, and the audience, knew that he had entrance music more fitting to his personality than any other fighter could possibly have.

The horn sounded and they were off, both intensely focused on one solitary goal: win. BJ easily won the first round, showing superior stand-up skills and great takedown defense. Round two saw Hughes go for another takedown, with BJ performing a split with one leg under Hughes and the other leg sprawling to defend the takedown. Eventually, after driving him into the cage, Hughes got the takedown. One mistake later, BJ took his back, during the transition to Matt's back; BJ separated some ribs, unbeknownst to everyone not named BJ Penn. Despite the injury, BJ nearly submitted Hughes, but Hughes escaped just before the bell. It turned out the submission was the last bit of strength, a desperate attempt to end a fight he was in no shape to finish in one piece.

In the third round, Penn couldn't even keep his hands above his waist. His poor cardiovascular regimen and injury had caught up to him. Despite the very real possibility of being able to tee off on and knock out an already defeated looking Penn standing, Hughes shot for by far the easiest takedown of the night. Soon after, for the first time in MMA history, the guard of BJ Penn was passes, quite effortlessly, by Hughes. Not long after that, in a crucifix like position with Matt Hughes raining down elbows on Penn's unprotected face, referee "Big" John McCarthy was forced to step in and stop the fight. The stoppage marked the first, and as of this writing, the only time Penn has ever been finished by his opponent.

With Penn's loss, it was now St. Pierre's turn to take on the champion, and his opportunity would come less than two months later in November of 2006 at UFC 65.

St. Pierre had fought, argued, and begged for a title shot. Two years and one month after the young Canadian had been submitted by the veteran, St. Pierre was back in the octagon with Matt Hughes for the welterweight title of the world.

In the end, all the waiting, training, and determination had paid off. St. Pierre dominated Hughes, who had no answer for "Rush's" striking attack. St. Pierre represented the complete fighter, the fighter of the future you would see at the old World's Fair. He was in top condition, his body sculpted from granite, he had never tired in his career, his striking was some of the best in the division with its diversity of attacks from spinning back kicks to powerful, technical boxing techniques, his ground game was some of the best you could have for a non-Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Who in the world could stop this man?

St. Pierre Finally Reached the top when he beat Matt Hughes



Matt Serra had won season four of The Ultimate Fighter, a season unlike any other in the shows history. The show took sixteen UFC veterans and put them in a house to fight it out for a title shot in their respective divisions, in this case, middleweight and welterweight. Since Serra won the welterweight tournament, he was scheduled to take on Georges St. Pierre. The fight was to take place at UFC 67, but an injury from St. Pierre prevented that from taking place. The fight was rescheduled for UFC 69 in April of 2007.

Leading up to the fight, St. Pierre started to experience distractions from the fight in some personal problems. From his father's illness, to the death of a cousin, the mental state of GSP was not one you'd be hoping for in training for a title defense. But St. Pierre was an 11-1 favorite against the New Yorker, what could go wrong?

Three minutes and twenty five seconds. That's all it took. If you read that two years ago, you would have figured St. Pierre walked right past Matt Serra. As we all know by now, the opposite happened. Serra rocked "Rush" early, hitting him in the equilibrium which threw off the balance of St. Pierre and disorientated him. Some two dozen punches later, Matt Serra was the new welterweight champion. It was a stunning upset in every sense of the word for St. Pierre, who was now back to square one after losing what he had worked so hard for.

After his loss to Matt Hughes, BJ Penn had been tapped to be a coach on season five of The Ultimate Fighter. The season focused on lightweights, a division which was recently brought back after a more than three year hiatus which began after BJ Penn went to a draw with Caol Uno. The coach opposite to Penn was his old nemesis, Jens Pulver. Pulver had returned to the UFC at UFC 63, where he was stunningly knocked out by Joe Lauzon, who would be a contestant on the show.

Penn was criticized by UFC President Dana White during the show for not making his team train conditioning. BJ Penn wasn't there to coach a team though. While he did help the fighters in training, he had two main focuses: to meet and learn from a true warrior, Andy Wang, and to fight Jens Pulver.

His fight with Pulver finally came at the season finale in June. This was the first fight for the new and improved BJ Penn. We finally got to see an in shape, this time lightweight "Prodigy" which was great news for fans, and bad news for Pulver.

For the most part, BJ dominated the fight. He landed big takedowns, caught Pulver in multiple submissions which to Jens' credit he escaped from, but he couldn't escape Penn for long. In the second round BJ trapped one of Jens' arms and sunk in a rear naked choke. Pulver tapped, but BJ kept the choke in for a few more seconds, maybe to get all of the anger towards Jens out of him? After the fight, the two pioneers of the lightweight division embraced the octagon, finally putting their feud to rest.

Two legend do battle.


Georges' comeback fight was set to come against Josh Koscheck at UFC 74 in August of 2007. Koscheck is a great wrestler and rising star in the UFC welterweight division, and most people thought it was a tough fight for Georges. What would he do against a guy who is on paper a better wrestler than him? Thankfully for Georges, fights do not take place on paper. After a first round which saw Koscheck get the upper hand, Georges was an animal. He took Koscheck down while "Kos" wasn't able to take him down, a truly incredible feat for a man who never wrestled until he started MMA. In the end, St. Pierre won a decision, which got him back on the winning side and silenced the critics, for now.

Season six of The Ultimate Fighter was built around a fight between coaches Matt Hughes, and UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra. Their rivalry was bitter, both hated each other and couldn't wait until they fought. Sadly for them, Matt Serra was injured training for the bout less than a month before it was set to take place. Since Serra would be out of action for about four months, the UFC decided that instead of just rescheduling the fight, they would seek a replacement. When the UFC came calling, Georges St. Pierre answered. It was soon announced that St. Pierre would take Serra's spot and would fight Matt Hughes at UFC 79 in December. Hughes didn't mind the change, since he would get the chance to beat the guy that beat him last, and them he could go on to fight Serra sometime in the future. To make things more interesting, the bout declared to be for the Interim UFC Welterweight Title.

St. Pierre came out and absolutely demolished Hughes to win the Interim UFC Welterweight Championship. Hughes had little, if any offense in the fight, while St. Pierre picked him a part on the feet, defended his takedown attempts, and took him down at will. Fittingly, St. Pierre finished Hughes with and armbar, the very same technique used to beat him just three years ago. With this dominating performance, the question was posed again, who could beat Georges St. Pierre?

A fitting end to a great series


After testing positive for steroids, UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk was stripped of his title. With the title vacated, and Sherk suspended, BJ Penn and The Ultimate Fighter season two winner Joe "Daddy" Stevenson were to fight it out for the crown of the lightweight division. At UFC 80, the first UFC event of 2008, BJ Penn finally became the UFC Lightweight Champion after two failed attempts. This time, BJ didn't leave it to the judges to decide if he would become lightweight champion. Penn dropped Stevenson with a combination very early in the fight. In the top position, he punished Joe "Daddy" and near the end of the first round landed a grazing elbow. The elbow cut Stevenson on the forehead, and it bled like a running faucet. After nearly another round of domination, Penn locked in the rear naked choke-now his signature maneuver-to finish off Stevenson. After the fight, Penn called out Sherk saying "Sean Sherk, you're dead," those are fighting words.

Joe Daddy got a big boo-boo.


St. Pierre was desperate to beat Matt Serra and absolve himself of his loss a year ago. At UFC 83, in his home town of Montreal, he got the chance. Serra played up his heel role brilliantly during the fight, leading to the event being the most bought PPV in the history of Canada, all to see the Canadian teach a lesson to some foul mouthed New Yorker.

Things went as expected this time. St. Pierre came out and immediately shot for a takedown, which he got and never looked back from there. He dominated Matt Serra from bell to bell, eventually finishing him in the second round due to vicious knees to the body. GSP was back and ready to dominate.

The next month, at UFC 84, BJ Penn was set to take on Sean Sherk. During the months leading up to the battle, the fighters engaged in a war of words, with Penn calling Sherk a cheater, among other things, in reference to his failed steroids tests. Sherk remarked that for the first time in his career, he would be fighting someone he hated.

Fight time came and the atmosphere for one of the most anticipated lightweight fights to ever take place. Coming to the octagon, Penn was confident, while Sherk looked intense and focused.

For the better part of three rounds, the fighters had a kickboxing matched, with Penn getting the better of it, though Sherk was landing some good leg kicks which he abandon later in the fight for some reason. Outside of an early shot defended by Penn, the wrestler Sherk didn't attempt to take this fight to the ground. With just seconds left in the third, Penn landed a knee that stunned Sherk. Penn followed up and Sherk dropped to the fence, where Penn landed punches eerily similar to those that put Caol Uno to sleep. The round then ended, but Penn then proclaimed the fight over, soon after, the referee made it official: Penn by TKO in three rounds. BJ Penn was once again the best lightweight in MMA.

After the bout, Penn called out St. Pierre for a rematch of their 2006 bout. Dana White confirmed that if St. Pierre got by Jon Fitch at UFC 87 in August, BJ would move up to welterweight to fight Georges for the welterweight title. The world was jubilant at the prospect of the bout, but perplexed as to where this would leave the other title contenders in the lightweight and welterweight divisions, namely Thiago Alves and the winner of Roger Huerta vs. Kenny Florian.

First things first though, and Georges St. Pierre needed to get by Jon Fitch, who had won eight fights consecutively in the UFC. After winning performances from Brock Lesnar and Kenny Florian, it was Georges' turn to defend the title he had won four months earlier.

The bell sounding to signify the beginning of the fight also signified the end for Jon Fitch. St. Pierre immediately shot in for a takedown, establishing his dominance against a guy known for his wrestling. Soon after getting back to their feet, GSP knocked Fitch down with a right hand, and then proceeded to put an exclamation point on the round. The fight was much the same from then on, with St. Pierre battering Fitch for the full twenty five minutes. Fitch, ever the competitor, refused to quit, and kept fighting to the very end. In that very end, St. Pierre ended up winning a unanimous decision, with scores of 50-44 twice, and 50-43. Afterward, BJ Penn entered the octagon to challenge St. Pierre to the rematch, and with that, St. Pierre vs. Penn II became a reality.

With GSP's dominaton, GSP vs. Penn 2 Became a reality


Here we are now, on the day of this monumental fight. This may be the fight that defines this generations mixed martial arts. Two of the first really well rounded guys, at the top of their game, going at it for a title, with one possibly becoming a double champion. This is truly the biggest fight ever, certainly in terms of the best fighting the best, and we'll see if it is in terms of pay-per-view buys. In my opinion, the winner of this fight is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world barring some ridiculous, James Irvin-like finish. I already have St. Pierre ranked as the top fighter in the world, with his explosive, powerful wrestling, along with his superb striking, on top of that he has a great ground game, and he even has very good cardio. The definition of the pound-for-pound, what this whole make believe theory is based off of is: if everybody was the same weight, who would be the best? Everybody pretty much has it narrowed down to four guys: St. Pierre, Penn, Anderson Silva, and Fedor Emelianenko. Now, why some people have Fedor ranked number one because of his past dominance, I just don't see what his past dominance has to do with him being the best fighter in the world now. His stand up isn't very technical, but it is extremely powerful, his ground and pound is the best in the world, he has very good submissions, he also has good wrestling, and he is probably the smartest fighter in MMA. Now, while Fedor is overall the best fighter ever, I don't think that his skills match up to those of a Penn or St. Pierre, though I do think he would beat Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva is an amazing striker and has a great ground game, but his lack of good wrestling is his biggest downfall. Even though I don't think anybody other than Dan Henderson could beat him in the middleweight division, I think guys like St. Pierre, could take him down, and beat him with either a decision or with his very good guard passes could pass his guard and even stop the monster. Of course all of these are subjective, most people will disagree with how I see this, and that's completely fine, hell, if these were actually possible, I could be wrong on every single one, though I doubt it.

With that little discussion out of the way, I preach to all of you to watch this fight. While I'm probably preaching to the quire here, but if I convince one person to watch this fight I'll feel like I've made a difference. This is going to be talked about for years, if you miss it, you suck. That is all.

If you would like to see who my pick is in this fight, you can visit the UFC 94 Roundtable Preview. Needless to say, you won't be dissapointned. And apparently I'm so talented I also write the MMA Juggernaut and I didn't even know it! That just proves my greatness.

That's it for this week. I tried to look for a fight of the week, but all of the fights I talk about here I either couldn't find a video for or couldn't find an embed code on them. As I said in the teaser, The Greatest MMA Column will be moving to a new day, that day is Thursday. So mark your calendars boys and girls, Thursday is the new home of The Greatest MMA Column. Enjoy St. Pierre vs. Penn 2! Wait, this fight is so awesome it deserves two exclamation points, which is something I never do. Enjoy St. Pierre vs. Penn 2!!