BJ Penn: The Greatest Lightweight in the History of the Sport

B.J. Penn is without a doubt going down in the history books of MMA for his accomplishments. He is one of the only fighters to have a belt in two different weight classes, as well as has some of the best if not the best takedown defense in MMA, besides Georges St-Pierre. He is a world champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is the first American to win the World Championships. He is not only known for his skills inside the Octagon, but also his skills outside. He owns his own gym which many top fighters train out of or visit for training camps, such fighters as, Robert Emerson, Shane Nelson, Joe Lauzon, and many others. B.J. is also known as being a great businessman; he has probably the best website out of any other MMA fighter, bjpenn.com which is visited by many fans as well as MMA sites which use his information for some of their articles.

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Besides B.J.’s leadership and skill at owning and operating a business, he is also great at selling a fight. His second fight with Georges St-Pierre at UFC 94, back in January of 2009, is widely known as the single biggest fight in Mixed Martial Arts history, having sold the 2nd best number of pay-per-view buys in the history of MMA at a whopping 1.3 million buys (second only to UFC 100 for 1.5 million buys). His fight at UFC 101 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the biggest Gate in the history of Pennsylvania, not the history of Philadelphia, but the history of the state.

B.J. has the most title defenses in the history of the Lightweight Division, a record number of 3 successful/straight title defenses. His last fight against Frankie Edgar at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi was a razor thin decision in which case many people believed B.J. won the fight, which is exactly why B.J. is re-matching Frankie Edgar August 28 th at UFC 118 in Boston Massachusetts. Even Frankie Edgar believed B.J. deserved a rematch and thought the judges “50-45” score in favor of Edgar was a little sketch. In addition, even though that was a close fight, B.J.’s coaches say B.J. was sick before the fight and was on heavy dosages of antibiotics, so this should make an interesting rematch if B.J. is 100 percent.

B.J. is also one of the few, if not the only fighter to jump weight and be so successful past his normal weight class. In his early years B.J. was a phenom lightweight and blew through the lightweight division. He then moved up to welterweight and blew through Matt Hughes to win the Welterweight title. B.J. then left the UFC and moved up to Light Heavyweight as well as Heavyweight to beat legendary fighter Renzo Gracie and take to a decision the former UFC light heavyweight champion and one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, Lyoto Machida.

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Few fighters have had the guts that B.J. has, and the glory to match. He has been known by many throughout his career, and still to this day, as the best fighter in the world. He has been on the top 5 of the top 10 pound for pound list of the greatest fighters in the world for the past 5 years, sometimes even being at number 2 and even number 1, and he will probably stay there if not move up on the list for the next 5 years to come. I could go on and on about B.J.’s accomplishments, but I think Joe Rogan said it best at UFC 107 when B.J. Penn stopped Diego Sanchez in the 5th round, “That right there, ladies and gentlemen, is the Greatest Lightweight, In the History of the sport!”

By Jake Nelson
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer