Tag: BJ Penn

For BJ Penn, a Win over Frankie Edgar Would Breathe New Life into His Career

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that B.J. Penn is a future UFC Hall of Famer. His mixed martial arts career began inside the Octagon at UFC 31, and over the course of his career he elevated the lightweight division to its marquee status and is…

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that B.J. Penn is a future UFC Hall of Famer. His mixed martial arts career began inside the Octagon at UFC 31, and over the course of his career he elevated the lightweight division to its marquee status and is one of only two men to hold UFC titles in two weight classes. A win over Frankie Edgar at the TUF 19 Finale on Sunday could add a new chapter to the legacy of “The Prodigy.”

Since losing the UFC lightweight title to Frankie Edgar in April of 2010, and the rematch that August, he ventured back up to welterweight with his 21-second starching of Matt Hughes at UFC 123. The win was thought by many to be the beginning of a career resurgence for the former champion.

He fought to a draw in his next bout against Jon Fitch at UFC 127, in a very close fight that he was competitive in. He followed that up with a decision loss to Nick Diaz, where after a surge of action in the first round, he couldn’t keep up with the blistering pace of Diaz, and by the end was doing little more than absorbing punishment. The resurgence hadn’t come, and it became clear that the days of licking his opponent’s blood off his gloves were in the past.

The loss to Diaz was an emotional one for B.J., who told Joe Rogan during his post-fight interview that it would probably be the last time we saw him in the cage, and he didn’t want to go home “looking like this” anymore. It seemed very likely that we had seen The Prodigy fight for the final time.

He returned a year later after to answer a challenge from Rory MacDonald. MacDonald picked him apart in the fight en-route to a unanimous decision, leaving Penn in a familiar spot of being badly beaten and dejected. Going into his third fight with Edgar, Penn has won just one of his last six fights.

The variable that needs to be considered is the move to featherweight that Penn will be making for the first time in his career. Those thorough beatdowns by Diaz and MacDonald occurred at 170 pounds, which despite the victories over Hughes was never a good fit for Penn.

A “motivated BJ Penn” is a saying that has almost become lore in the mixed martial arts world, similar to “Prime Chuck Liddell” or “Wanderlei in Pride.” Motivation to train has always been the biggest hurdle for Penn to get over in his career. Making the cut to 145 pounds will necessitate Penn to stay active and will push him to train hard.

Although Penn doesn’t have any personal animosity towards Edgar, a few statements made recently have gotten under his skin.

“It’s not really an emotional thing, but I’ve seen that he really wants to make me retire,” Penn said on the pre-fight conference call. “And how am I going to feed myself and feed my kids if I retire? But I’ll remember that next Sunday when we step in the ring.”

The losses to Edgar eat away at Penn, and he was willing to make the drop to featherweight to avenge them. Penn is 35 years old. He isn’t the youngest fighter in the world, but he isn’t so advanced in age that a good performance seems out of the question.

He’s got a tough task ahead against the man who took his belt, and it really will take a motivated B.J. Penn to get past Edgar. We may see Frankie Edgar come out and use his speed and footwork to outbox Penn just like he did in their first two fights. But, we may see a lean, scrappy B.J. Penn storm out of the gate looking to finish his adversary quickly and decisively.

And should he defeat the No. 3-ranked featherweight, the rest of the Top 10 is no walk in the park either. Defeating Frankie Edgar would create some seriously interesting fights in the featherweight division. Put a newly invigorated B.J. Penn against fighters like Cub Swanson or Chan Sung Jung and you have main event fights that would draw some eyeballs.

He has spent some time with the Nova Uniao team in preparation for this fight, and a win over Edgar would put him right back into the forefront of the minds of MMA fans who marveled at his destruction of the lightweight division from 2007-2009.

Penn has already earned his place as one of the pound-for-pound greats and was arguably the best lightweight fighter of all time. He’s got a chance to prove that he still has what it takes to get it done and reclaim the glory that he reveled in as one of the most feared fighters in the UFC. A victory would certainly breathe new life into his already prodigious career.  

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

This 4-Minute Video Pretty Much Sums Up The Entire Season of TUF 19: Penn vs. Edgar (and TUF in General)

“I have a question for both of you,” asks Dana White to BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar just moments before the three begin deliberating semifinal matchups on last night’s episode of TUF 19, “Is this the season of guys who just don’t want it?”

“F*cking exactly,” Penn quickly chimes in, while Edgar opts to remain silent. I swear, that Edgar fellow is too nice for his own good and it’s going to get him hurt one day.

But perhaps more interesting than White’s assertion of this season’s cast — who combined have finished just one fight inside the distance since entering the house — is how it applies to the excruciatingly dull season that TUF 19 has become, and truly, The Ultimate Fighter program as a whole.

I know, I know, we here at CagePotato hate everything MMA, UFC, and especially, T-U-F. We’ve had it out for The Ultimate Fighter from the get-go — the “get-go” being somewhere around season 15. We’re just h8ers who can’t appreci8 TUF because we’re all overw8 noobs who can’t get d8s, don’t trane UFC, etc. And that’s fine, but even the biggest TUF apologist would find it hard to declare that this season has been memorable in any way whatsoever (although I’m sure a few of you will try in the comments section). The fights have sucked, Penn and Edgar have been non-factors at best, and the fights have sucked. Did I mention the fights have sucked? Because they have.

“I have a question for both of you,” asks Dana White to BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar just moments before the three begin deliberating semifinal matchups on last night’s episode of TUF 19, “Is this the season of guys who just don’t want it?”

“F*cking exactly,” Penn quickly chimes in, while Edgar opts to remain silent. I swear, that Edgar fellow is too nice for his own good and it’s going to get him hurt one day.

But perhaps more interesting than White’s assertion of this season’s cast — who combined have finished just one fight inside the distance since entering the house — is how it applies to the excruciatingly dull season that TUF 19 has become, and truly, The Ultimate Fighter program as a whole.

I know, I know, we here at CagePotato hate everything MMA, UFC, and especially, T-U-F. We’ve had it out for The Ultimate Fighter from the get-go — the “get-go” being somewhere around season 15. We’re just h8ers who can’t appreci8 TUF because we’re all overw8 noobs who can’t get d8s, don’t trane UFC, etc. And that’s fine, but even the biggest TUF apologist would find it hard to declare that this season has been memorable in any way whatsoever (although I’m sure a few of you will try in the comments section). The fights have sucked, Penn and Edgar have been non-factors at best, and the fights have sucked. Did I mention the fights have sucked? Because they have.

What could Dana White have expected, honestly? When it was first announced that Penn, a recently retired legend who has dropped 4 of his past 6 fights, and Edgar, a former lightweight champion who has beaten Penn twice, would serve as coaches this season and then meet in a completely unnecessary trilogy bout, at featherweight, there was almost a universal reaction of “Wait, WTF?!” Not only has Penn never fought at featherweight before, but the dominant fashion in which Edgar last defeated him didn’t exactly have fans screaming for another go. And what would a win even mean for Penn? A temporary stay of execution from retirement? A chance to get leg-kicked into oblivion by Jose Aldo?

Coming off the ratings kersploosh that was TUF 18 and with at least two international seasons of the show running at all times (and receiving their own, garbage-ass finale cards, no less), it is safe to say that fans are all tapped out of the trite and plain boring entity that is TUF. Even worse, the booking of Penn and Edgar as coaches for TUF 19 seems to indicate that the UFC might be feeling the same effects as well.

But TUF is all about the fighters, right? Right, except that this season’s contestants (Dhiego Lima excluded) seem as if they could not give less of a fuck about getting their skulls bashed in for a chance to earn 8k/8k a fight for the next five years (and I almost forgot, that sweet glass plaque!). Nor do they seem swayed by White dangling the $25,000 “Knockout/Sub/Fight of the Season” bonuses like a carrot in front of their face in the above video.

“$50,000 is life changing!” says White, who proceeds to drop $200,000 in casino chips and drunkenly purchasing a smart car just because.

I’ve always had this theory about UFC cards, where if the first few fights end in an underwhelming decision, the rest of the card is doomed to follow in the same fashion. The fans become fatigued, the fighters realize that most fans at home have already tuned out, and it just becomes another long day at the office. I haven’t been wrong on that many occasions.

Those underwhelming undercard fights are the last 5 or so seasons of The Ultimate Fighter in this scenario, in case you didn’t get the metaphor.

Nothing short of a miracle is going to pull TUF out of the hole it’s been in, although I do hold out hope that an all-womens season with some actual stakes on the line will at least give us a reason to watch it again. Save a brutal KO in the premiere episode and a baffling judging/referee calamity in episode 7, TUF 19 has been decidedly absent of any notable moments. The same can be said about TUF 18, 16, the “Live” season (LOL!), and countless others.

I don’t even need to beat the dead horse that is the UFC’s obvious oversaturation issues anymore. The proof is in the semen-covered sushi pudding. And to answer Dana’s question, no, we don’t want it.

–J. Jones

UFC: Can Frankie Edgar Return to Greatness?

Remember Frankie Edgar?
That guy was great.
He’d go into a fight looking like your little brother who wrestled in high school, then beat the snot out of legends and lightweight leviathans alike.
Knock him down? He’s right back up and in your face.
Win …

Remember Frankie Edgar?

That guy was great.

He’d go into a fight looking like your little brother who wrestled in high school, then beat the snot out of legends and lightweight leviathans alike.

Knock him down? He’s right back up and in your face.

Win a round? He’s going to come back and win the next four.

Think you’re going to take his title from him in an endless run of rematches? He’s game, and he’ll knock you out in the last one just for an exclamation point.

Yeah, that Frankie Edgar guy was pretty great.

But where has he been? He fought Jose Aldo in a fight he kind of earned by getting hosed out of a title win in another division, then he fought a dude who hadn’t earned it on merit but gave him a great scrap anyway, then he just disappeared.

Sort of.

He actually agreed to coach against longtime nemesis BJ Penn on The Ultimate Fighter, something of a weird turn for both men. Penn was basically retired, Edgar was hunting for another title shot.

But those old flames die hard. When Penn came calling for a third fight, Edgar put his aspirations of gold on hold for a year to dance with the one that brought him to the dance of MMA relevance.

Now, finally, they’ll get down to business in about a month. Only, with a year off, one has to wonder: Can Frankie Edgar return to greatness?

A year is a long time to hit pads and roll lightly for the sake of technique.

It’s a long time to not punch someone or be punched by someone if that’s the line of work you’re in.

It’s all even longer when you’re in your prime competing in a sport where the idea of a “prime” can be pretty fragile sometimes.

So Edgar will try to overcome that break and the odds that come along with it. Penn is a good test to do that against, a guy Edgar’s beaten twice and who hasn’t competed since 2012 himself, but the risk is always there.

What if you lost it while you sat out for a year? What if getting up from being knocked down, or coming back to steal all those rounds after absorbing tremendous damage, took a toll that you didn’t see in all those technique sessions?

That’s the danger of a sport as risky as MMA: What happens in the cage is dangerous enough; what happens while you’re waiting to get there can sometimes be just as bad. As a great prophet once said, “the waiting is the hardest part.”

Frankie Edgar has been waiting for a year now.

He was great when he left—will he be when he comes back?

 

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn: Early Head-to-Toe Breakdown

It’s time for a good ol’ fashioned fight that no one asked for, but people are definitely interested in.
Well, not literally time for one. It’s going to happen in a couple of months. But figuratively, and for the purposes of what you’re about to read, …

It’s time for a good ol‘ fashioned fight that no one asked for, but people are definitely interested in.

Well, not literally time for one. It’s going to happen in a couple of months. But figuratively, and for the purposes of what you’re about to read, we’re going to say it’s time for one.

That fight? BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar III on July 6.

Break out all the taglines you want. “The Bout to Knock the Other Guy Out” and is taken, and stuff like “This Time It’s Personal” is kind of unimaginative, but call it whatever you want.

Penn and Edgar are going to war one last time, and it’s hard not to be a little enthused by that.

The first two fights are underrated in their own ways. Their lightweight title bout at UFC 112 crowned a shocking champion in Edgar, and their return engagement at UFC 118 was even more stunning for how dominant he was in retaining his belt.

For pure surprise, there may not be 10 consecutive rounds of combat to ever be more underrated, actually.

Now, mutually reinvented as 145-pounders, they’ll do it again. Penn is looking to slay an old demon that’s never quite sat right with him, while Edgar is seeking to remind people that he won those fights because he’s very good, not very lucky.

Seeing as there’s plenty of reason to be excited by those motivations, we can agree that it’s never too early to break down their third bout. So that’s what we’ll do.

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The 27 Most Persistent Myths in MMA


(“I’m telling you people, this is the most stacked UFC card OF ALL TIME!” / Photo via Getty)

Like price sticker residue on a prized picture frame, these myths refused to be scrubbed away. You’ll encounter them on forums, barroom discussions, and even from the mouths of so-called experts. What myths are these? We’re glad you asked…

By CagePotato.com Staff 

1. MMA wouldn’t exist without Dana White. Wrong. See here.

2. Royce Gracie was a humble, respectful warrior. [Ed’s note: Hopefully there’s been enough recent evidence to put this falsehood to bed until the end of time.]

3. Chuck Liddell in his prime would have destroyed ________.

4. MMA has nothing in common with professional wrestling.

5. [Celebrity with zero combat sports experience] would make a great MMA fighter!

6. Motivated BJ Penn could/still can beat anybody.

7. Healthy Shogun could/still can beat anybody.

8. Brock Lesnar could’ve held the belt forever and a day had it not been for diverticulitis.

9. The UFC is not a sports entertainment company.


(“I’m telling you people, this is the most stacked UFC card OF ALL TIME!” / Photo via Getty)

Like price sticker residue on a prized picture frame, these myths refused to be scrubbed away. You’ll encounter them on forums, barroom discussions, and even from the mouths of so-called experts. What myths are these? We’re glad you asked…

By CagePotato.com Staff 

1. MMA wouldn’t exist without Dana White. Wrong. See here.

2. Royce Gracie was a humble, respectful warrior. [Ed’s note: Hopefully there’s been enough recent evidence to put this falsehood to bed until the end of time.]

3. Chuck Liddell in his prime would have destroyed ________.

4. MMA has nothing in common with professional wrestling.

5. [Celebrity with zero combat sports experience] would make a great MMA fighter!

6. Motivated BJ Penn could/still can beat anybody.

7. Healthy Shogun could/still can beat anybody.

8. Brock Lesnar could’ve held the belt forever and a day had it not been for diverticulitis.

9. The UFC is not a sports entertainment company.

10. MMA wouldn’t exist without Bruce Lee.

11. Tito Ortiz held the most UFC light heavyweight wins of all time (too soon?).

12. _____, _____, and _____ will be the toughest test of [insert headliner of next PPV]‘s career so far.

13. Xyience is a thing people use outside of UFC press conferences, where cans of it are used as paper weights.

14. Michael Bisping won the Matt Hamill fight.

15. Rampage Jackson is funny.

16. Forrest Griffin is funny.

17. The low salaries Zuffa pays the fighters are okay because they all get rich off locker room bonuses.

18. The media isn’t on the take.

19. “I used supplements that must have been tainted.”

20. “I was hacked.”

21. “My phone was stolen.”

22. “My PR firm went rogue.”

23. Brazilian events bring out only respectful, educated fans.

24. Women’s fights are always exciting (and no, we don’t hate WMMA. You can criticize something and still like it. Imagine that…)

25. Dana White isn’t an asshole (this behavior is indefensible, no matter how much snow you have imported into your driveway).

26. Boxing is dead. Did you see how many MMA sites covered Mayweather-Maidana?

27. “Fastest growing sport in the world.”

MMA Retrospective: Examining the Career of UFC Champion Jon Jones

This past Saturday night at UFC 172, Jon Jones stepped into the cage to defend his UFC light heavyweight title against Glover Teixeira.
It was his seventh defense of his title, making him the longest reigning champion in the division’s history; t…

This past Saturday night at UFC 172, Jon Jones stepped into the cage to defend his UFC light heavyweight title against Glover Teixeira.

It was his seventh defense of his title, making him the longest reigning champion in the division’s history; the previous record holder was Tito Ortiz, who defended the title five times.

The fight itself was a blend of the expected and the unexpected; Jones dominated via his reach and unorthodox striking, but the grappling skills he demonstrated so early in his UFC career were not so easily applied against his gritty challenger.

Then, there was the question of eye pokes, which will give his detractors no small amount of ammunition by which to criticize his performance, which saw him win via scores of 50-45 on all judges scorecards.

Like many champions, Jones has faced his fair share of criticism, and it looks like it will not stop anytime soon; as long as he keeps winning, some fans of the sport will take exception with his methods while waiting for their chance to cheer when he eventually loses.

Now, his future looks to contain two very tough bouts: a rematch against Alexander Gustafsson and a fight with Daniel Cormier.

And yet, amid it all, there stands a fighter who is closing in on Anderson Silva’s record for title defenses, which stands at 10. Alongside Jose Aldo, Jones is working his way toward that benchmark of greatness; to break that record will be nothing less than a positive testimony of consistency and greatness, no matter how many people question the ways and means by which Jones wins.

Fighters such as Silva, Aldo and Jones are rarities in the sport; they’re men capable of rising to any occasion, using their physical gifts and skills to constantly defeat their opponents. To retain a title in the UFC in any division is a hard task; yet now, Jones has accomplished this feat seven times.

What kind of man is Jones? Clearly, he is more than the some of his greater or lesser parts; indeed, he is the composite whole of a career that has seen him achieve remarkable things.

Despite the eye pokes, Jones looked excellent against Teixeira, dominating from a distance and up close, where Teixeira had his greatest chance to land his power shots.

Jones took some hard shots, going toe-to-toe with the challenger on more than one occasion, and still won the fight in decisive fashion.

When you look at Jones’ career, he has made a habit of making good fighters look average. At UFC 172, he proved it was not a simple byproduct of his incredible reach; it was due to his use of brutal elbows, wrist control and a high fight IQ.

And to think he only started six years ago…

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