Legendary former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion B.J “The Prodigy” Penn is scheduled to make his highly-anticipated return at June 4’s UFC 199 from Inglewood, California after a near two-year hiatus away from the sport. Penn was originally scheduled to face off with German kickboxer Dennis Siver, but news broke last night (May 10, 2016)
Legendary former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion B.J “The Prodigy” Penn is scheduled to make his highly-anticipated return at June 4’s UFC 199 from Inglewood, California after a near two-year hiatus away from the sport.
Penn was originally scheduled to face off with German kickboxer Dennis Siver, but news broke last night (May 10, 2016) indicating that Siver had suffered an undisclosed injury and would be forced out of the bout.
Fast forward less than 24 hours later, however, and the UFC has found a new opponent to replace Siver and keep Penn on the card.
According to UFC Tonight’s Megan Olivi, Cole Miller will step up on short notice to clash with “The Prodigy” in just a few weeks.
Miller is riding a rough streak as of late, coming up winless in his last two bouts. He suffered a decision loss to red hot rising contender Max Holloway in February 2015, and fought to a no-contest after being eye-poked in a bout with Jim Alers last December.
He will look to add a huge name to his resume when he faces off with Penn.
The former two-division champion hasn’t competed since July 2014, and he too had hit a rocky time near the end of his running, losing three-straight bouts, and being winless since 2010.
Now training with highly-touted coach Greg Jackson, however, Penn will look to make a splash when he enters the cage on June 4 in the L.A Forum.
The UFC is set to make its debut in the Netherlands this weekend, as UFC Fight Night 87 will take place on Sunday, May 8, 2016 from Rotterdam. Fittingly, the main event will feature an intriguing heavyweight tilt between legendary Dutch kickboxer Alistair “The Reem” Overeem and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei “Pitbull” Arlovski. Overeem
The UFC is set to make its debut in the Netherlands this weekend, as UFC Fight Night 87 will take place on Sunday, May 8, 2016 from Rotterdam.
Fittingly, the main event will feature an intriguing heavyweight tilt between legendary Dutch kickboxer Alistair “The Reem” Overeem and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei “Pitbull” Arlovski.
Overeem has looked rejuvenated as of late, winning three consecutive bouts with two of those victories coming by way of stoppage. Arlovski, however, is coming off of a brutal knockout loss to current title challenger Stipe Miocic last January.
This weekend’s headliner undoubtedly presents an interesting stylistic matchup, but the contest also possesses a note-worthy backstory.
As it turns out, the two men are actually ‘teammates’ so to say as both fighters train at the famed Jackson-Winkeljohn Academy in New Mexico, although they have both previously indicated that they aren’t necessarily friends.
Despite not being too close, Arlovski isn’t too pleased that “The Reem” asked for this bout, saying that Overeem put coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn in an awkward situation:
“The most important thing right now is to face and beat Alistair Overeem … because from what I know, he asked this for this fight,” Arlovski told MMAJunkie. “He kind of put on the spot Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn.”
As far as his latest performance goes, the “Pitbull” admits that he made some ‘stupid’ mistakes against Miocic, but also claimed that he’s well prepared to take on and beat Overeem this weekend:
“I did some stupid, dumb things and mistakes when I fought Stipe Miocic, and he knocked me out really quick,” Arlovski said. “I was one step away from a title shot, but now I have to start from the beginning, and I think it’s a good match for me.
“I had a great training camp, great sparring partners and great coaches.”
Does the former UFC champ have what it takes to derail the surging Overeem?
The UFC is set to make its debut in the Netherlands this weekend, as UFC Fight Night 87 will take place on Sunday, May 8, 2016 from Rotterdam. Fittingly, the main event will feature an intriguing heavyweight tilt between legendary Dutch kickboxer Alistair “The Reem” Overeem and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei “Pitbull” Arlovski. Overeem
The UFC is set to make its debut in the Netherlands this weekend, as UFC Fight Night 87 will take place on Sunday, May 8, 2016 from Rotterdam.
Fittingly, the main event will feature an intriguing heavyweight tilt between legendary Dutch kickboxer Alistair “The Reem” Overeem and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei “Pitbull” Arlovski.
Overeem has looked rejuvenated as of late, winning three consecutive bouts with two of those victories coming by way of stoppage. Arlovski, however, is coming off of a brutal knockout loss to current title challenger Stipe Miocic last January.
This weekend’s headliner undoubtedly presents an interesting stylistic matchup, but the contest also possesses a note-worthy backstory.
As it turns out, the two men are actually ‘teammates’ so to say as both fighters train at the famed Jackson-Winkeljohn Academy in New Mexico, although they have both previously indicated that they aren’t necessarily friends.
Despite not being too close, Arlovski isn’t too pleased that “The Reem” asked for this bout, saying that Overeem put coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn in an awkward situation:
“The most important thing right now is to face and beat Alistair Overeem … because from what I know, he asked this for this fight,” Arlovski told MMAJunkie. “He kind of put on the spot Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn.”
As far as his latest performance goes, the “Pitbull” admits that he made some ‘stupid’ mistakes against Miocic, but also claimed that he’s well prepared to take on and beat Overeem this weekend:
“I did some stupid, dumb things and mistakes when I fought Stipe Miocic, and he knocked me out really quick,” Arlovski said. “I was one step away from a title shot, but now I have to start from the beginning, and I think it’s a good match for me.
“I had a great training camp, great sparring partners and great coaches.”
Does the former UFC champ have what it takes to derail the surging Overeem?
Ever since the heated few weeks preceding Jon “Bones” Jones and Daniel “DC” Cormier’s first championship tussle at UFC 182, there has been an impassioned debate over just who is the better mixed martial artist. Jones’ decisive victory, his eighth consecutive light heavyweight title defense, appeared to be enough to put the final nail in the
Ever since the heated few weeks preceding Jon “Bones” Jones and Daniel “DC” Cormier’s first championship tussle at UFC 182, there has been an impassioned debate over just who is the better mixed martial artist. Jones’ decisive victory, his eighth consecutive light heavyweight title defense, appeared to be enough to put the final nail in the proverbial coffin of that fervent argument.
However, after numerous slip-ups outside of the cage by “Bones” and two very imposing performances by Cormier in the former champ’s absence, the debate over whom is the superior fighter slowly crept back towards a state of equilibrium.
The dispute carried on for months, with each man happily providing his two cents as to why he is the better fighter, and it all came to a sort of culmination last weekend (Sat., April 23, 2016) at UFC 197, when Jone’s fought Ovince St. Preux for the interim light heavyweight strap. Admittedly, Jones looked more mortal than he normally does in the Octagon, but he still managed to turn in a dominant five-round performance against “OSP” to secure the inherently meaningless interim title.
Though victorious, “Bones’” surprisingly ordinary performance did not go unnoticed by Cormier, who was sitting (and commentating) ringside during the main event bout.
According to “DC”, Jones’ ring rust was quite apparent, and he even went as far as to say that had he faced Jones that night, he was utterly confident that he would have sent Jones home shouldering the burden of his first legitimate pro loss, and that Jones was ‘lucky’ that he instead fought “OSP.” He was so confident that what we all witnessed was the “new Jon” that he said their newly scheduled bout at UFC 200 would be ‘light work’.
Right on cue, as expected, Jones fired back with his now-routine responses, attacking “DC’s” wrestling skills and his inability to ’embrace the grind’ in the championship rounds. But what was far more surprising was the fact that Jone’s head coach Greg Jackson, a generally reserved and seldom publicly vocal personality, voiced his own opinion in defense of Jones from Cormier’s quips.
“Jon’s one of those guys that fights to the level of his competition. When the going gets tough, he gets going for sure. I’m very confident he would have won that night because he would step up to that [Cormier’s] level. He’s one of those guys if you push him really hard he will push back…For me, we’d done so much work for Daniel, I think he still would have won that night. If you push him hard, that almost wakes him up.”
Not the most vehement of retorts, no, but that’s not really Jackson’s style. He tends to take the high (and silent) road and leave the coach-versus-fighter banter up to gentlemen like John Kavanagh and Rafael Cordeiro.
Nonetheless, if this is just a minute glimpse into the tornado before the storm that’s coming in the build-up leading to the main event at UFC 200, it’s safe to say that we’re in for quite an entertaining ride.
Last week legendary former UFC lightweight and former UFC welterweight champion BJ “The Prodigy” Penn took to his official twitter account, hinting at a potential return to action and indicating that he would be training with highly touted coach Greg Jackson. Appearing on today’s (January 19, 2016) edition of the MMA Hour, the 37 year
Last week legendary former UFC lightweight and former UFC welterweight champion BJ “The Prodigy” Penn took to his official twitter account, hinting at a potential return to action and indicating that he would be training with highly touted coach Greg Jackson.
Appearing on today’s (January 19, 2016) edition of the MMA Hour, the 37 year old confirmed his comeback, noting that he has his eyes on the featherweight title:
“That’s who I am, Ariel,” Penn told host Ariel Helwani. “That’s who I am. That’s what I do.
“I want to go get that 145-pound belt. That’s definitely a huge motivation for me. I believe with Greg Jackson’s help, I can get that done. And I believe that I will be able to walk away as the only man with three titles in three weight divisions.”
Although it would be incredibly difficult given the current state of his career, Penn would indeed make history if he were able to capture 145-pound gold.
Losing his last three bouts to date, the former two division world champion retired after coming out on the short end of a one sided beating against Frankie Edgar in 2014. Apparently not quite ready to call it quits just yet, “The Prodigy” knows this is his last chance, but with Jackson in his corner he seems confident in his future:
“I’ve been kind of thinking about it for a while. But, this is my last resort, and I’m going to give it everything I got,” Penn said.
“I made sure to tell Greg, I let him know the other day that if I can’t do this, Greg, in any way, shape, or form, you feel that B.J. doesn’t belong in the ring, please let me know. Please let me know. And he’s very confident that we can get something done. With somebody like that, who has so many champions himself and who has does as well as he has in this sport, when he tells me that: ‘I know you can go out and I know you can beat all these guys,’ it gives me a lot of confidence.”
Having not won a single bout since 2010, Penn wants to assure himself that he won’t return in the form he had been fighting in near the tail end of his run, but at the end of the day, he’s eager to challenge himself against the best fighters in the world:
“I don’t want to be a shell of my former self,” Penn said. “And I told Jackson that if I can’t do this, you let me know. You come straight to me, Greg. You see me sparring one day, you look at me and say ‘this guy don’t got it anymore,’ pull the plug right now. I got a wonderful life back in Hawaii. I love my life. But I love fighting more.
“I realize what I’m up against. I’ll go out right now and give all my respect to these guys. These guys are animals. These guys are the best athletes in the world, and I want to go and take my place among them.”
Although the cards seemed to be stacked against him, Penn is a special type of athlete, and Jackson is notorious for reviving the careers of those who have seemed to be passed by.
As for what the future holds, UFC President Dana White also confirmed the news, but has nothing planned as of now:
“(It’s) true,” White wrote via text message when contacted by MMAjunkie. “But I don’t know when or who he will fight.”
Who would you like to see “The Prodigy” return against?
Despite not scoring a win since 2010, having his soul stolen by Frankie Edgar in his last octagon appearance, and admitting that he “shouldn’t have come back” before emotionally retiring for realsies in the evening’s post-fight press conference, BJ Penn…wants to come back. And not only that, he wants to come back to face Nik Lentz, who has been goading him into a fight on social media for months now, in March. This is sad, we’re all sad for hearing it, so on and so forth…
It all started when Penn snapped the above photo with Greg Jackson, with the caption “We coming!” Jackson later told reporters that he was “very optimistic” about Penn’s future following a meeting with the former two-division champion, who then proceeded to formally challenge Lentz to a fight at UFC 197 on March 5th.
Penn chose an ambitious timetable for his return, to say the very least, and yesterday evening, Lentz responded with what must be the most cold-blooded takedown in the history of combat sports.
Despite not scoring a win since 2010, having his soul stolen by Frankie Edgar in his last octagon appearance, and admitting that he “shouldn’t have come back” before emotionally retiring for realsies in the evening’s post-fight press conference, BJ Penn…wants to come back. And not only that, he wants to come back to face Nik Lentz, who has been goading him into a fight on social media for months now, in March. This is sad, we’re all sad for hearing it, so on and so forth…
It all started when Penn snapped the above photo with Greg Jackson, with the caption “We coming!” Jackson later told reporters that he was “very optimistic” about Penn’s future following a meeting with the former two-division champion, who then proceeded to formally challenge Lentz to a fight at UFC 197 on March 5th.
Penn chose an ambitious timetable for his return, to say the very least, and yesterday evening, Lentz responded with what must be the most cold-blooded takedown in the history of combat sports.
Check it out below, via MMAFighting, then down a shot every time you recoil from the absolute savagery of Lentz’s words. You will be dead within 3 paragraphs.
BJ, I received your poorly-worded, utterly predictable, message. In spite of its clumsy structure, awful spelling, incorrect usage (you state at one point that I wrote a poem about you making fun of yourself), and general air of arrogance, entitled stupidity, I’m considering your request.
There are, of course, some conditions.
– I’m never competing at 145 ever again. Neither should you. I came to this conclusion after doing careful research, and deciding what was right for my long-term health as well as my short-term performance. If you fight at 145, it won’t be long before you’re eating banana mush in a nuthouse. I am accountable to my family, and my future with them. Because you are an impulsive tyrant surrounded by yes-men, you have no ability to make rational, intelligent decisions. So I am making this one for you. If we fight, it would be at 155.
– I’m not fighting in March. Neither are you. You may imagine you are, and the imbeciles you surround yourself with may nod in agreement like the trained dogs they are, but you aren’t fighting in March. You’ve lied to your fans, and let them down over and over, and nobody is clamoring to put the BJ PENN EXCUSE FACTORY back in business. Were I to agree to fight you in March and whup your ass, it would only give you and your lackeys the “BJ didn’t have enough time” bullshit excuse. Additionally, if we do fight, it will be on MY timetable, NOT yours. You are retired, and have no schedule. I am an active fighter, on the roster, with a schedule and training platform that is not beholden to your desires, grudges, or need for narcissistic supply.
– You still owe Mike Dolce $22,000. Knowing him, he is too gracious and dignified a man to revisit the traitorous back-stabbing skullduggery you engaged in with him after the third time Frankie Edgar kicked your ass inside-out. I, however, don’t have the luxury of grace, and dignity is best left out of any exchange that includes you. You will donate $22,000 of your purse to the HAWAII DOG FOUNDATION, a no-kill, all-volunteer rescue organization working hard to rescue and rehabilitate dogs in Hawaii, in Mike Dolce’s name.
Give these conditions some thought. They are non-negotiable. They are rules you WILL abide by, or you can go whistle. I have a contract, and plenty of guys to fight. As a Narcissist, you have nothing but an image. And you NEED attention. You have all the money you could ever spend; but it doesn’t satisfy you. I have what you NEED. I’M in charge. You can do what narcissists usually do when confronted by a higher power; SLINK AWAY. Or you can confront your needs, realize I can fulfill them, and come to terms with me, looming over you, holding the….
WHIP HAND.
I’m ALREADY in charge, you poor, deluded, fool. I did more to motivate you with TWO POEMS than all your yes-men, and titles, and highlights could. Get as angry as you want. Go out behind your huge inherited estate and kick rocks. Go cry to your Mommy. Go shit in your hat and bark at the moon. You want to fight? Then it’s on MY terms. FACE IT.
Now run along, little man. Go find a way to swallow your overarching pride and do it MY way, or scuttle about like a deformed crab at low tide, like a masochist at last call, desperately looking for somebody else to thrash you.
You can go to Greg Jackson’s, you can go to Jermaine Jackson’s, you can listen to Mahalia Jackson, you can resurrect Jackson fuckin’ POLLOCK to paint you a better picture of yourself than the one we all see; but…
You’re an unclaimed, busted-down suitcase on a dusty shelf in an abandoned bus-terminal. Accept my conditions, or rot in obscurity.
Nik Lentz Your BOSS”
With all due respect to Penn, I don’t think there’s a thing he could do to Lentz physically that would match the — and I hate to repeat myself here — absolute savagery of what was just said here. This message is the absolute pinnacle of the pen being mightier than the sword, and though I doubt he’ll take our advice, Penn would be best off to just stay retired.
Then again, Motivated Penn is perhaps the most dominant fighter this planet has ever known, above that of even Sea Level Velasquez, “Look in His Eyes” Chuck, and Full Camp Mendes. By Lentz’s own admission, he has motivated Penn more with a poem (which you can read here) “than all your yes-men, and titles, and highlights could.” So the question now becomes: Is Greg Jackson the man to bring Motivated Penn out from hiding, or is BJ just setting himself up for another tearful goodbye?
