As things stand right now, UFC Hall Of Famer BJ Penn is a retired former two-division UFC Champion, however a recent meeting with legendary MMA coach Greg Jackson has fans thinking “The Prodigy” could soon be returning to the Octagon.
Penn met with …
As things stand right now, UFC Hall Of Famer BJ Penn is a retired former two-division UFC Champion, however a recent meeting with legendary MMA coach Greg Jackson has fans thinking “The Prodigy” could soon be returning to the Octagon.
Penn met with the man considered to be among the best trainers in MMA history this week in Albuquerque, New Mexico to discuss joining the Jackson/Winklejohn fight team, a team that is home to multiple UFC stars and champions, such as Jon Jones and Holly Holm.
Following the meeting, Jackson told MMAFighting.com, “I’m pleased with how the meeting went and very optimistic about the future. BJ doesn’t have any specific fight plans, but we have [our own] plans.”
Penn sparked rumors of a potential UFC comeback fight by taking to social media to post a photo (see below) of himself with Jackson after the meeting with a caption that read “We Coming!!” It’s worth pointing out that Penn tagged the official Twitter accounts of the UFC and UFC President Dana White in the tweet.
A former UFC Welterweight and UFC Lightweight Champion, “The Prodigy” BJ Penn retired from the sport with a 0-3-1 record in the last four fights of his Hall Of Fame career, with losses to Nick Diaz, Rory MacDonald and Frankie Edgar, and a draw against Jon Fitch. His last professional MMA victory dates back to his knockout of Matt Hughes in their rubber match at UFC 123 in 2010.
Penn was officially inducted into the “Modern Era Wing” of the UFC Hall Of Fame during UFC’s annual International Fight Week in Las Vegas last July.
You didn’t hear about Dana White’s latest announcement: An MMA-related Magic the Gathering set?
Well,there’s a reason you didn’t hear about it: It didn’t happen. Thankfully, one of our favorite past times is figuring out what products should needlessly be merged with our MMA obsession. A few days ago, we arrived at Magic the Gathering (MTG for short). We played the addictive card game back in high school. We wondered what a set of MTG that spans the entire MMA world might look like. The below cards–featuring the likes of Dana White, Conor McGregor, Greg Jackson, as well as several “MMA memes”–are the result of our mental meandering.
A few notes: We haven’t played Magic in about 10 years so some of the gameplay semantics might not be totally accurate. Also, some of the abilities are for the purposes of chiding MMA as only irreverent CagePotato can. All real photos in the cards come from Getty Images, save for the photo of “Minowaman” Ikuhisa Minowa, which comes from Sherdog. Another card’s image comes from a YouTube screen capture (you’ll know which one).
With that, here are the cards. We hope you enjoy them:
You didn’t hear about Dana White’s latest announcement: An MMA-related Magic the Gathering set?
Well, there’s a reason you didn’t hear about it: It didn’t happen.
Nae bother, one of our favorite past times is figuring out what products should needlessly be merged with our MMA obsession. A few days ago, we arrived at Magic the Gathering (MTG for short). We played the addictive card game back in high school. We wondered what a set of MTG that spans the entire MMA world might look like. The below cards–featuring the likes of Dana White, Conor McGregor, Greg Jackson, as well as several “MMA memes”–are the result of our mental meandering.
A few notes: We haven’t played Magic in about 10 years so some of the gameplay semantics might not be totally accurate. Also, some of the abilities are for the purposes of chiding MMA as only irreverent CagePotato can. Nearly all “real” photos in the cards come from Getty Images, save for the photo of “Minowaman” Ikuhisa Minowa, which comes from Sherdog.
With that, here are the cards. We hope you enjoy them:
Broken English is the universal language. As a master instructor and communicator, Greg Jackson understands that — which is why he cornered Rustam Khabilov as his “Sergei” character during UFC Fight Night 42 on Saturday.
Of course, Jackson is notorious for putting on different voices to bring the best out of his students. Remember when he imitated a drag-queen competition judge while cornering Donald Cerrone? (“Go get some Donald Cer-o-nay! You betta sissy that walk, child!”)
Broken English is the universal language. As a master instructor and communicator, Greg Jackson understands that — which is why he cornered Rustam Khabilov as his “Sergei” character during UFC Fight Night 42 on Saturday.
Of course, Jackson is notorious for putting on different voices to bring the best out of his students. Remember when he imitated a drag-queen competition judge while cornering Donald Cerrone? (“Go get some Donald Cer-o-nay! You betta sissy that walk, child!”)
(Winkeljohn says that Jackson’s absence didn’t affect their fighter’s performance too much, but “it could have ended up a lot worse.” / Photo via Getty)
A video emerged this week showing a controversial moment during Jon Jones‘s title-defense against Alexander Gustafsson, but it was what could be heard in the video, not seen, that raised some eyebrows. In the background, the voice of what would seem to be an athletic commission official asks another man what his name is.
That man answered, “Greg Jackson.” Jackson, of course, is well known as Jones’s head coach, but he was promptly told that his name was not on the list of approved cornermen and forced to leave the area.
CagePotato spoke with Jones’s striking coach, Mike Winkeljohn — who was also in the champ’s corner that night in Toronto, but was able to stay there for the duration of the fight — and asked him what, exactly, happened.
“Normally for title fights a fighter gets four cornermen except for in Ontario where they have always just allowed three for some reason,” Winkeljohn explained. “Heading into the fight, though, we were told that we had gotten permission to have four corners for Jon. We were all allowed to walk out and get in the corner with him and stayed there during the first round, but heading into the second round I could hear a commission inspector talking to Greg.
“I was trying to focus on the fight, on Jon, because it was a stand-up fight and I’m constantly speaking to him in code so it’s important not to have that communication disrupted. After the round, I find out that Greg was told to leave. We had permission from someone back there, but a different person — the inspector — for some reason didn’t let us. He was just doing his job as he thought he should, and you can’t blame him.
(Winkeljohn says that Jackson’s absence didn’t affect their fighter’s performance too much, but “it could have ended up a lot worse.” / Photo via Getty)
A video emerged this week showing a controversial moment during Jon Jones‘s title-defense against Alexander Gustafsson, but it was what could be heard in the video, not seen, that raised some eyebrows. In the background, the voice of what would seem to be an athletic commission official asks another man what his name is.
That man answered, “Greg Jackson.” Jackson, of course, is well known as Jones’s head coach, but he was promptly told that his name was not on the list of approved cornermen and forced to leave the area.
CagePotato spoke with Jones’s striking coach, Mike Winkeljohn — who was also in the champ’s corner that night in Toronto, but was able to stay there for the duration of the fight — and asked him what, exactly, happened.
“Normally for title fights a fighter gets four cornermen except for in Ontario where they have always just allowed three for some reason,” Winkeljohn explained. ”Heading into the fight, though, we were told that we had gotten permission to have four corners for Jon. We were all allowed to walk out and get in the corner with him and stayed there during the first round, but heading into the second round I could hear a commission inspector talking to Greg.
“I was trying to focus on the fight, on Jon, because it was a stand-up fight and I’m constantly speaking to him in code so it’s important not to have that communication disrupted. After the round, I find out that Greg was told to leave. We had permission from someone back there, but a different person — the inspector — for some reason didn’t let us. He was just doing his job as he thought he should, and you can’t blame him.
“Luckily, it didn’t affect the fight too much, but it could have. What Greg and I usually do anyway is, if it’s a stand up fight, I go in the cage in between rounds and if it’s a grappling one he goes in. So, Jon didn’t even notice in between rounds because he expected to see me in there with him, because the fight was happening on the feet for the most part. When Greg goes in the cage he has a calming effect on fighters so he does that and then I give some tactical advice. It could have ended up a lot worse. Greg was able to send over his thoughts and coaching to the other coaches from where he was sitting. It could have been worse but we don’t want it to happen again.”
As for the close fight itself, we asked Winkeljohn what he thought of it. On Monday I’d written that Jones finally encountered some difficulty beating an opponent with his flat-footed, one-strike-at-a-time style of fighting. Coach Winkeljohn rejected the idea that Jones always fights flat-footed and said that the champ hurt one of his feet early in the fight and it made things a lot more difficult from then on out.
“Well, Jon checked a kick in the first and hurt his foot. That made it harder for him to stay on his toes, and he fought flat-footed after that. It made it harder to get in and out of things,” the coach explained.
It looks like Gustafsson will not get the automatic rematch he’d hoped for now, but Coach Winkeljohn seemed fine with the idea when asked. “Personally, I would like to see the rematch,” he told us.
“Because I think everyone would see a different Jon Jones.”
On Saturday before UFC 165, a friend who is relatively new to watching MMA asked me a simple question that I would have felt like a jerk answering honestly. “What are Jon Jones’ weaknesses?,” she asked.
Given his near flawless career, even MMA neophytes had gotten the feeling that Jones was supposed to be something, well, what’s the term…“not quite human”? Yeah, that’s the phrase I was looking for.
So, if “Bones” was such a great fighter, did he have any weaknesses? That’s what our buddy wanted to know. I ducked the question then but won’t today. Call me a coward twice; it was and is the easy thing to do.
Of course Jones was never a perfect fighter. Perfect doesn’t exist. Certainly not in fighting.
Still, saying a guy is over-reliant on his one-strike power, speed and wrestling, and opts to fight flat footed too often sounds like nit-picking as long as said fighter’s one-strike power, speed and wrestling have proved dominant. Up until his meeting with Alexander Gustafsson, they had been for Jon Jones.
Before Gustafsson, Jones never had to fear anyone having quicker feet or hands than him, taking him down or surviving the power of his nasty elbows, kicks and knees. So, as he usually does, Jones fought flat-footed and mostly threw one strike at a time in quick bursts at UFC 165.
Sure, Jones got the decision win (thanks in part to a ludicrous 49-46 score in his favor from one judge) but he was far from dominant, and even the greatest light heavyweight of all time can take a few lessons away from his performance.
He got booed big time by the Toronto crowd Saturday when the decision in his favor was announced but I stand by my previous assertion that Jon Jones deserves none of our hate. So, as a documented and steadfast non-hater of Jones, here are a few unsolicited tips for the champ…
1) Stop assuming that you are the fastest, most dynamic fighter in the division. Heading into the fight, you laughed off the idea that Gustafsson had better foot work and hand speed than you. Guess what? Alexander Gustafsson has better foot work and hand speed than you.
On Saturday before UFC 165, a friend who is relatively new to watching MMA asked me a simple question that I would have felt like a jerk answering honestly. “What are Jon Jones’ weaknesses?,” she asked.
Given his near flawless career, even MMA neophytes had gotten the feeling that Jones was supposed to be something, well, what’s the term…“not quite human”? Yeah, that’s the phrase I was looking for.
So, if “Bones” was such a great fighter, did he have any weaknesses? That’s what our buddy wanted to know. I ducked the question then but won’t today. Call me a coward twice; it was and is the easy thing to do.
Of course Jones was never a perfect fighter. Perfect doesn’t exist. Certainly not in fighting.
Still, saying a guy is over-reliant on his one-strike power, speed and wrestling, and opts to fight flat footed too often sounds like nit-picking as long as said fighter’s one-strike power, speed and wrestling have proved dominant. Up until his meeting with Alexander Gustafsson, they had been for Jon Jones.
Before Gustafsson, Jones never had to fear anyone having quicker feet or hands than him, taking him down or surviving the power of his nasty elbows, kicks and knees. So, as he usually does, Jones fought flat-footed and mostly threw one strike at a time in quick bursts at UFC 165.
Sure, Jones got the decision win (thanks in part to a ludicrous 49-46 score in his favor from one judge) but he was far from dominant, and even the greatest light heavyweight of all time can take a few lessons away from his performance.
He got booed big time by the Toronto crowd Saturday when the decision in his favor was announced but I stand by my previous assertion that Jon Jones deserves none of our hate. So, as a documented and steadfast non-hater of Jones, here are a few unsolicited tips for the champ…
1) Stop assuming that you are the fastest, most dynamic fighter in the division. Heading into the fight, you laughed off the idea that Gustafsson had better foot work and hand speed than you. Guess what? Alexander Gustafsson has better foot work and hand speed than you.
2) Stop assuming that you are the best wrestler in the division. Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t, Jon. But the assumption that you are has a tendency to make men complacent and get taken down by Swedish boxers. Everyone works hard in MMA and people improve. Your opponents certainly will. Gustafsson is far from the best wrestler in the 205-pound division and you couldn’t take and keep him down. Not even close.
3) Don’t take for granted that single strikes from you will always outweigh an entire fight’s worth of of strikes landed in combination from an opponent. Gustafsson stayed moving, which helped him avoid takedowns and land strikes. Simply put, Gus boxed you up for three and a half rounds and deserved the decision win because of it. Now that your aura of invincibility is gone, judges may not always continue to see your fights through Bones-colored lenses.
4) Stop assuming that you can go into a training camp out of shape and be full of energy for an entire title fight. Look, we know that Jones was fat when he began his training camp for Gustafsson. Not, like, Filet-O-Fish fat, but skinny-fat nonetheless. Gustafsson got bludgeoned in the fourth and fifth frames, which likely explained his lethargy in the championship rounds. Jones got out-pointed for most of the fight and was cut from a glancing punch but probably wasn’t ever hurt the way Alexander was. Jon’s flatness and fatigue for most of the fight, then, was more than likely due to his overall conditioning level.
You can drop pounds in six to eight weeks and get a six pack but when a fighter doesn’t take care of themselves all year round the way, say, a Bernard Hopkins or Randy Couture do, they can’t guarantee that their body will respond well when put through a grinder of a fight. Jones had never been through that before — the dogfight that he’d supposedly been waiting for. Now he has. Hopefully he’s learned his lesson.
5) Don’t assume that you’re getting the best coaching in the world. From what we’ve seen the past years, there is a lot lacking in Jones’ head coach, Greg Jackson. After getting his arm wrenched by Vitor Belfort last year, Jones admitted that his coaches didn’t have him train Jiu Jitsu every day. Short of not eating, drinking and breathing every day, there couldn’t be a more absurd omission for a fighter to make or a for a head coach to allow at their direction.
Similarly, one hopes that Jones’ coaches are going to draw a line in the sand for him regarding how out of shape he is allowed to get in between fights. Ultimately it is, of course, Jones’ responsibility as his own man to stay disciplined enough with his activity and diet to stay in shape but it would be great if he had a head coach who didn’t accept his fighter being so lax in the “off-season,” because in MMA there really is no off-season.
(“It’s a trap when you’re on top of the world. When I was champion, I had people who would go out with me every day of the week. After I had two, three losses, people disappeared.” / Photo via Sherdog)
As he prepares to bounce back into the win column, the Pitbull took some time to speak with us about this weekend’s fight, as well as the highs and lows of a memorable career. Enjoy…
CagePotato.com: What do you think about Mike Kyle as an opponent? Andrei Arlovski: He’s very quick. Has quick hands. Very quick jab, good right hand. I just have to be ready for his speed. That’s why I train a lot right now with Jon Jones — he’s my main sparring partner. We try to help each other. He’s a hard worker, he’s a good striker, so it’s good to work with him.
CP: Your last fight against Anthony Johnson was a painful one. AA: Yes, my jaw was broken in the fight. The referee didn’t watch the time [letting the fight continue eight seconds past the five-minute first round] and Johnson broke my jaw in two places. Every punch in my face after that gave me that feeling of putting electricity in my body. Of course, I’m not happy that I lost, but I’m very happy that I shut all the fucking mouths who said I have a weak chin. I was able to fight two more rounds with a broken jaw.
CP: How big of a problem is bad officiating, bad time-keeping, and bad refereeing in MMA?
AA: To be honest with you, I can’t make any comments right now. Maybe later. I’m sorry. I just hope this time, the referee is going to be more professional.
CP: You’ve made an impressive career comeback after losing four straight fights in 2009-2011. How tough was that losing streak for you mentally?
AA: It was really tough mentally, it was really tough physically. I was asking myself, “What’s wrong? Every time, I do everything right.” I train right, I was on a schedule. You know what my old trainer told me? He said “You need to retire.”
I just gave a call to Greg Jackson, I said “Listen, should I retire or not?” He said, “Absolutely not! Just come to my camp and we’ll start over again.” Greg Jackson supported me a lot, he gave me hope.
I told [Greg] face to face, “I don’t need any favors from you. Do you think I can be champion again?” He said, “Yes.” “Do you think I have potential?” he said, “Yes.” And hearing that was enough for me.
(“It’s a trap when you’re on top of the world. When I was champion, I had people who would go out with me every day of the week. After I had two, three losses, people disappeared.” / Photo via Sherdog)
As he prepares to bounce back into the win column, the Pitbull took some time to speak with us about this weekend’s fight, as well as the highs and lows of a memorable career. Enjoy…
CagePotato.com: What do you think about Mike Kyle as an opponent? Andrei Arlovski: He’s very quick. Has quick hands. Very quick jab, good right hand. I just have to be ready for his speed. That’s why I train a lot right now with Jon Jones — he’s my main sparring partner. We try to help each other. He’s a hard worker, he’s a good striker, so it’s good to work with him.
CP: Your last fight against Anthony Johnson was a painful one. AA: Yes, my jaw was broken in the fight. The referee didn’t watch the time [letting the fight continue eight seconds past the five-minute first round] and Johnson broke my jaw in two places. Every punch in my face after that gave me that feeling of putting electricity in my body. Of course, I’m not happy that I lost, but I’m very happy that I shut all the fucking mouths who said I have a weak chin. I was able to fight two more rounds with a broken jaw.
CP: How big of a problem is bad officiating, bad time-keeping, and bad refereeing in MMA?
AA: To be honest with you, I can’t make any comments right now. Maybe later. I’m sorry. I just hope this time, the referee is going to be more professional.
CP: You’ve made an impressive career comeback after losing four straight fights in 2009-2011. How tough was that losing streak for you mentally?
AA: It was really tough mentally, it was really tough physically. I was asking myself, “What’s wrong? Every time, I do everything right.” I train right, I was on a schedule. You know what my old trainer told me? He said “You need to retire.”
I just gave a call to Greg Jackson, I said “Listen, should I retire or not?” He said, “Absolutely not! Just come to my camp and we’ll start over again.” Greg Jackson supported me a lot, he gave me hope.
I told [Greg] face to face, “I don’t need any favors from you. Do you think I can be champion again?” He said, “Yes.” “Do you think I have potential?” he said, “Yes.” And hearing that was enough for me.
Now I train with Greg Jackson. I have a couple more guys in Chicago, Dino Costeas, he has been my jiu-jitsu trainer from day one.
CP: You worked with Freddie Roach before facing Fedor Emelianenko. Shogun Rua recently worked with Freddie Roach and lost to Chael Sonnen. Do you think Shogun made a mistake, or do you think Roach helped him fine-tune his boxing game?
AA: I definitely learned something from Freddie Roach, training boxing. When I used to train with Freddie Roach, that hurt my relationship with my other trainers. It didn’t really work well for me. I don’t know, it was some experience, and that’s it.
CP: In Belarus, what were some of the problems you experienced growing up? AA: I didn’t have many problems, except all the kids, all the time bullied me. Because I was a bigger boy, I was bullied. Later, I fought with everyone, all the time, everywhere. At age 16, I went to boys academy, about that time, I started training in Sambo, and became world champion in Sambo, it kind of gave me a way to follow MMA to UFC. Everything happens for a reason.
CP: At one time, you pursued a career in law enforcement. Why did you keep coming back to MMA? AA: I train hard, I like to fight and more important — I haven’t yet reached my goal. I want to be champion again, and I don’t think it’s impossible to reach my goal.
CP: What’s next after Mike Kyle? AA: I have no idea. I think back in the day, I was supposed to fight Mike Kyle in the UFC, but it didn’t happen. I just have to beat him.
CP: Wes Sims recently told Jack Brown, “Unfortunately, the fighting life isn’t for everyone. Many people see it as something glamorous, but the truth is that while struggling to make it to the next level, you are literally a day or two away from losing your house.” Is it tough to find stability in a sport with so many extremes?
AA: Definitely, it’s a trap when you’re on top of the world. When I was champion in the UFC, I had a good paycheck. I had people who would go out with me Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday — every day of the week. After I had two, three losses, those people disappeared. I have a few guys around me who have been around me through all my victories and all my losses, I consider them my true friends.
CP: With hindsight, would you have let the same people into your entourage?
AA: To be honest with you, I don’t know how to answer. Definitely, I’m not going to bring again, like, 40 people to Affliction and the UFC shows. Just a few people — coaches and my wife, that’s it.
CP: Tell me a little more about your relationship with Jon Jones. Is he a nice guy?
AA: My personality is kind of weird. I need to take some time to get closer to people. But he’s an essentially nice person.
CP: Do you ever give him advice, considering that you’ve been in sport much longer than he has?
AA: I don’t like to give advice because you have to be responsible for the results. For somebody, it’s going to work, for someone [else], it’s not going to work. To each, his own.
CP: Have you thought about another fight against Tim Sylvia? [Arlovski went 1-2 against Sylvia in the UFC and had a no-contest against Sylvia in August 2012 at ONE FC].
AA: I don’t know if someone is going to be interested in putting on a match between us again. If some fans want to see Arlovski against Sylvia, maybe, I don’t know. I am not really interested in having a rematch with Tim at this time.
CP: Any other final words for our readers?
Thank you to all my fans who have been with me through all my victories and losses and I’ll be back on September 14. See you soon.
