You’ll never hear anyone accuse BJ Penn of utilizing lay and pray to win a fight. Go back & watch all of Penn’s fights & you’ll never see Penn do “just enough” to gain a victory.
What you’ll see from the very beginning until the very end is a warrior who went full boar from start to finish. It didn’t matter who the opponent was or what the circumstances were, Penn gave everything he had & then some.
If tonight’s fight with Nick Diaz was truly the last time we will see Penn ever put on the 4 oz. gloves or grace us with his presence inside the Octagon, then we saw what Penn was truly all about.
If there was one knock on BJ throughout his entire 10 year career it was his cardio. He was simply unable to maintain the pace that was necessary to finish the job at times.
That was never more evident than it was tonight. Penn showed off the all-around skills that allowed him to be only the third man in the sports history to capture titles in two different weight classes.
His boxing was crisp as he kept Diaz off guard with a fantastic jab & his grappling was good enough for him to briefly take the back of a man Penn himself said has some of the best pure BJJ in all of MMA.
Unfortunately, he seemed to slow down in the second round, which can be attributed to the pressure Diaz put on as much as Penn simply beginning to tire & slow down.
As Diaz gained more confidence & began to pepper Penn with shots to the head & body, BJ tired more & more. This continued through the third round until the final bell on the fight & “The Prodigy’s” career sounded.
The look of defeat was evident all over Penn’s battered face. But this look wasn’t only from tonight’s fight, it was from a career filled wars against the best the sport had to offer.
No matter how badly he was beaten or how badly BJ was dishing out the punishment, the one constant that his fans could always count on was the heart & warriors spirit Penn displayed.
If that really was the last time Penn will ever fight, he did it doing what he always had, by putting on a show & going out on his shield. For that the fan in me would like to say two simple words. Thank You.
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