At UFC 31 11 years ago a legendary career began, as a baby-faced Hilo boy named BJ Penn made his UFC and MMA debut against Joey Gilbert. He destroyed Gilbert in under a round, and a legendary career began. Penn went on to annihilate his next 2 opponents before running into a title fight with a much more experienced fighter in Jens Pulver. Although Penn lost that night, he learnt more in defeat then he ever could of true victory. The BJ that came back after that had the drive and determination to match his amazing physical talents, and The Prodigy was born. Before we get into this article, I would like to point out that in my opinion B.J Penn is the most gifted fighter to ever live, but I will try my best not to be biased by my views.
Through his storied career, “The Prodigy” was in involved in some of the greatest fights in MMA history. Who can forget UFC 46, when Penn shocked the world, as he out-grappled the massive favourite Matt Hughes, who was a lot heavier and stronger than Penn? At first his attitude to fight anyone at any weight was endearing — the guy fought a future UFC champion in Lyoto Machida at Heavyweight, and in my opinion, only lost because the bout took place in a ring instead of a cage. Eventually, the size advantages of his opponents finally caught up with him. After losing two straight fights at welterweight, to Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes, BJ decided to make the wise choice to drop back down to his natural home of 155 pounds.
Back at lightweight, BJ proved how talented he was by finishing Pulver, Joe Stevenson, and Sean Sherk, before again testing the waters at welterweight in a super fight against Georges St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship. After losing to the much bigger man, BJ went back to 155 pounds and cemented his legacy as the greatest lightweight of all time with finishes over Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. Then tragedy struck — Baby Jay met his kryptonite in Frankie Edgar. Even though many thought BJ won their first fight in Abu Dhabi, he came out on the wrong side of the decision. However, due to the controversy a instant rematch was called, and this time Edgar clearly won.
On November 20th 2010, BJ Penn and Matt Hughes finished their trilogy. I literally leapt off my seat when Penn landed the perfect right straight, and sent Hughes on a one-way train to snoozeville. This would have been the perfect time for Penn to retire on a high note, but to his credit, he fought a great fight with Jon Fitch before taking on Nick Diaz, who looked twice the size of Penn. It broke my heart to see my hero lose that night and then retire on a loss like that, but is it really the end for Penn? MMA Ratings has the scoop.
Thursday night in Sweden I had a one-on-one chat with the Prodigy. I asked him if he had one more fight left in him. He said, “I just wanna relax, you know? I’m done.” That’s it, BJ fans. It’s game over for us, but I asked BJ and his coach Jason Parillo if any fight would interest him, and he said the only thing that would interest him would be a main event in the UFC’s first ever venture into Hawaii. Would you fans like to see B.J Fight one more time?
