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The UFC on Fox 5 card coming up is one of the most anticipated cards of 2012.It features a completely stacked main card, as well as quality fights on the undercard. The card will showcase a lightweight title fight, a fight for contendership at 205 and …
The UFC on Fox 5 card coming up is one of the most anticipated cards of 2012.
It features a completely stacked main card, as well as quality fights on the undercard. The card will showcase a lightweight title fight, a fight for contendership at 205 and the return of a legend.
Plus the entire card is free.
Here is a fan’s guide of what to watch for on this UFC on Fox 5 card.
“BJ Penn still holds court, right?”As fans cheered for Penn as he took to the grappling mats, it was apparent that Penn is still as big a name as ever. It makes sense. Penn is considered by all to be a legend in MMA. However, his legacy has recently be…
“BJ Penn still holds court, right?”
As fans cheered for Penn as he took to the grappling mats, it was apparent that Penn is still as big a name as ever. It makes sense. Penn is considered by all to be a legend in MMA. However, his legacy has recently been called into question by Rory MacDonald, his UFC on Fox 5 opponent.
MacDonald is the young phenom in the welterweight division, and the heir apparent to Georges St-Pierre’s welterweight title. At the UFC on Fox 5 media scrum, MacDonald had some choice words regarding Penn’s legacy and legendary status.
“He’s like me before. That’s what I would say. I would say what he said. ‘Oh he’s fighting to be remembered, I’m fighting to hurt him.’ That sounds like BJ Penn a couple years ago,” said Penn.
“I think he’s a good fighter. He’s very well-rounded ground and standup. Great coaches. That said, I think it will make for an exciting night for the fans.”
The fight between the two welterweights is unique as the fighters agreed to outside testing from the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA). Penn has always been outspoken when it comes to drug testing and keeping the sport clean. However, he was very honest when he stated his reasoning for wanting VADA testing for the bout with MacDonald.
“I can sit here and tell you a bunch of BS about how I’m trying to clean up the sport but it’s just to me. I’m just trying to save myself and keep myself healthy.”
After months away from the sport, some were surprised that Penn chose to return to the cage. Penn’s decision to fight at welterweight raised some eyebrows as he’s found the most success at lightweight.
“I walked away not just because of the Nick Diaz fight but because of the last five fights. I had one win, three losses, and a draw. I was like ‘Where’s this going? What’s the point?’ But as I sat at home to train and do other things, I’m fine. I do well with everybody. Why not step back in?”
“I’m almost 34 now. I don’ t see the point of eating chicken salad and training for six hours off of that. I always thought and I always knew that if I prepared myself properly at 170 pounds that I could do well at 170 pounds.”
He added, “I’ve never walked into the ring and had a guy wipe me right out. It’s never ever happened. If I give a little extra, if I do it properly, I feel like I can be a force in the division.”
Penn faces Rory MacDonald on the main card of UFC on Fox 5 at the KeyArena in Seattle on September 8.
*All quotes attained by Bleacher Report at the UFC Open Workouts.
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It could be the end for two mixed martial arts legends this weekend at UFC on Fox 5 from Seattle.Hawaiian fighting legend BJ “The Prodigy” Penn, and longtime Brazilian light heavyweight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua are both in action, trying to main…
It could be the end for two mixed martial arts legends this weekend at UFC on Fox 5 from Seattle.
Hawaiian fighting legend BJ “The Prodigy” Penn, and longtime Brazilian light heavyweight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua are both in action, trying to maintain their status in the pecking order of the UFC.
Penn has been near or at the top of two different divisions for a span of 11 years starting in 2001, and is still considered by many a top-ten fighter at both 155 and 170 pounds. He is clearly nearing the end of his time in the fight game, but will have one last shot at staying in the welterweight title picture by beating new-breed star and rising Canadian young gun Rory MacDonald.
MacDonald is a monster of a man for welterweight, and once again Penn gives up a large size advantage and will need every ounce of his experience, skill and cardio to stand a chance against him.
This fight has the makings of a classic, or it could be a very ugly end for the Hawaiian legend. Can Penn stop MacDonald’s meteoric rise, or will this really be the last time we see BJ Penn in the Octagon?
The fall of MMA legends may not stop there on Saturday night, as immediately following Penn vs. MacDonald, former Pride and UFC champion Brazilian superstar Mauricio Rua will face rising light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson.
Rua has been a champion in both the Pride Fighting organization and the UFC in his ten-year career, and has beaten the best-of-the-best in the world like Quinton Jackson, Chuck Liddell, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Kevin Randleman, Alistair Overeem (twice), Forrest Griffin and Lyoto Machida. Rua lost the UFC light heavyweight title to Jon Jones in March of 2011 and is looking for one final shot to reclaim the gold.
Like Penn-MacDonald, the Rua-Gustafsson fight is another classic case of a possible changing-of-the-guard scenario. Jones aside, established MMA stars like Rua have been ruling the roost of many of the divisions in the UFC for years now, with fighters like Gustafsson waiting in the wings.
If Gustafsson is able to dominate Rua like many believe he will, it may be the end of Rua‘s brilliant MMA career on Saturday night.
Two legends looking to send the youngsters back to the training room. Two rising stars looking to put an end to two brilliant careers.
These two fights are not even the main event on Saturday night, and my Christmas comes on December 8th this year.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca UFC.
Catch him on Facebook and Twitter @wakafightermma.
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Remember that flabby, somewhat haggard version of Mauricio Rua that showed up to about every other one of his fights in the UFC with bum knees and a shit gas tank? He died. And now his freakishly fit doppleganger is here to bang all of our girlfriends and wives. So I have both, big whoop wannafightaboutit?
As was the case for BJ Penn, it appears that Shogun has whipped himself into damn near the best shape we have ever seen him in for his upcoming fight with Alexander Gustafsson. And it’s surprisingly appropriate; both Rua and Penn are aging legends looking to make one last run at a title shot, and both men must get past two highly-touted young bucks in order to do so. And no one wants to show up out of shape on the same network that airs The Choice. A loss is a loss, but having Pauly D mock your love handles with a laser pointer is a punishment no person on this earth deserves.
Although Shogun has been given a slightly better chance of pulling off the upset than Penn, both men are considerable underdogs heading into Saturday’s event, so make sure to swing by CP at 8 p.m. EST to see if these two will rise from the ashes or go down in flames. And if you’re in the Boston/Dorchester area, hit up either Karma or myself on Twitter to see which dive bar we’ll be catching the fights from and come join us. We apologize in advance for getting you thrown out of said dive bar, but that bouncer was totally giving one of us the stink eye.
Remember that flabby, somewhat haggard version of Mauricio Rua that showed up to about every other one of his fights in the UFC with bum knees and a shit gas tank? He died. And now his freakishly fit doppleganger is here to bang all of our girlfriends and wives. So I have both, big whoop wannafightaboutit?
As was the case for BJ Penn, it appears that Shogun has whipped himself into damn near the best shape we have ever seen him in for his upcoming fight with Alexander Gustafsson. And it’s surprisingly appropriate; both Rua and Penn are aging legends looking to make one last run at a title shot, and both men must get past two highly-touted young bucks in order to do so. And no one wants to show up out of shape on the same network that airs The Choice. A loss is a loss, but having Pauly D mock your love handles with a laser pointer is a punishment no person on this earth deserves.
Although Shogun has been given a slightly better chance of pulling off the upset than Penn, both men are considerable underdogs heading into Saturday’s event, so make sure to swing by CP at 8 p.m. EST to see if these two will rise from the ashes or go down in flames. And if you’re in the Boston/Dorchester area, hit up either Karma or myself on Twitter to see which dive bar we’ll be catching the fights from and come join us. We apologize in advance for getting you thrown out of said dive bar, but that bouncer was totally giving one of us the stink eye.
“Bones Knows” that Rory MacDonald will finish B.J. Penn at UFC on Fox 5.That would be quite a feat for MacDonald, especially considering that Penn is notorious for being one of the hardiest fighters in the UFC.In 26 professional fights at various weigh…
“Bones Knows” that Rory MacDonald will finish B.J. Penn at UFC on Fox 5.
That would be quite a feat for MacDonald, especially considering that Penn is notorious for being one of the hardiest fighters in the UFC.
In 26 professional fights at various weight classes, “The Prodigy” has only been finished in the Octagon once—by UFC legend Matt Hughes. Georges St-Pierre technically stopped Penn in their January 2009 superfight at UFC 94 as well, but not by his own hands—Penn’s corner threw in the towel after four grueling rounds of punishment.
UFC president Dana White visited Jon Jones on the set of The Ultimate Fighter during filming for the UFC on Fox 5 video blog (segment at 5:40), where Jones made some bold predictions for the upcoming Fox event:
I got Rory MacDonald on that fight. I think he’s going to finish [Penn]. I respect B.J. a lot, but B.J.’s a guy who’s gotten a little comfortable, I think. [With] Rory, it’s another one of those things—experience versus ambition. I give ambition the edge every time, being a young guy.
Bones also picked Ben Henderson to win his second title defense this weekend, stating that while challenger Nate Diaz was good at many aspects of MMA, Henderson was plain “better” in every area where “Diaz” is simply “good” at them.
Although opposing TUF coach Chael Sonnen picked Diaz and Penn to win their respective fights, Jones agreed with his rival on the two other main card bouts featuring Mauricio Rua vs. Alexander Gustafsson and Mike Swick vs. Matt Brown.
“Bones” stated that youth and ambition would push the rangy Gustafsson to defeat Rua, while he also favored Swick to beat gritty veteran Brown.
Jones and Sonnen will be featured Tuesday nights on Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter in January—a move predicated by poor Friday night ratings for TUF: Live and TUF 16. Once filming for TUF 17 is over, Sonnen is expected to challenge Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, making that his third title bout in five fights.
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Sometimes it’s hard to figure BJ Penn out. As it stands now, he has clearly enjoyed his greatest moments of success as a lightweight, and in all honesty, that should be the division he is fighting in. It’s perhaps the deepest weight class i…
Sometimes it’s hard to figure BJ Penn out.
As it stands now, he has clearly enjoyed his greatest moments of success as a lightweight, and in all honesty, that should be the division he is fighting in.
It’s perhaps the deepest weight class in the sport, and if he were to return to those fields, there is a plethora of near super-fights just waiting for him to show even the slightest return to that once-great form that saw him win the title.
BJ Penn vs. Benson Henderson would be epic, as would Penn vs. Nate Diaz, Penn vs. Jose Aldo (should Aldo defeat Frankie Edgar), and so on. He would be challenged and he would have the chance to get the belt once again, drenched in blood and glory, a pound-for-pound luminary once more.
Instead, he lets Rory MacDonald goad him into a fight in the one division he’s experienced more failure and heartbreak than most would care to endure.
As a welterweight, Penn has seen some crushing defeats at the hands of GSP and Nick Diaz, the latter being so bad it drove him away from the sport.
Yet here he is, back to settle a score that was really already settled back at UFC 94.
There is something admirable about uncompromising men, but the way Penn keeps throwing himself at the welterweight wall is beginning to seem like futility.
And now he’s going to square off against a younger, bigger, and probably stronger fighter in Rory MacDonald, who is honestly a wrecking machine because he plays to his strengths.
And now it looks as if the Canadian has discovered the goldmines of social media and how to make your own fights.
But as Penn so often says, a fight is a fight, and he’s got a big one on his hands with MacDonald.
Penn still has some fight in him, and some time. Save the shellacking he took at the hands of Diaz, he’s never really taken a serious beating, and he’s still got one-punch knockout power and some of the best jiu-jitsu in the game, hands down.
But stylistically, MacDonald has a huge advantage: reach, size, power, youth, and some vicious ground-and-pound to complement his excellent top game.
Sometimes fights are hard to imagine, but this is one that sadly is all too easy.
Penn is just too small for this division and he’s meeting a lion on the rise, who trains with a group of killers and who is hungry to make a name for himself, and against Penn, he can do that and thus solidify his station as a top contender in the division.
Odds are high that he’ll be beaten up with leg kicks from range, eating hard knees in the clinches—and there will be plenty of those—and on the ground he’ll be taking serious punches and elbows, all night long.
I really wanted Penn to come back, but not like this, and certainly not at welterweight.
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