So much for the idea of BJ Penn heading back to his old American Kickboxing Academy stomping grounds for a little bit of training before his bout with Rory MacDonald, whenever it happens.Penn, who worked with Dave Camarillo and Bob Cook at AKA back in …
So much for the idea of BJ Penn heading back to his old American Kickboxing Academy stomping grounds for a little bit of training before his bout with Rory MacDonald, whenever it happens.
Penn, who worked with Dave Camarillo and Bob Cook at AKA back in the mid 90s, recently said he was interested in getting in a little bit of training time at his former gym, but hinted that one AKA stalwart wasn’t keen on the idea, as reported by Tim Burke of bloodyelbow.com. Penn said:
We’re over here in Honolulu right now, training. We’re gonna be here for a month, and then we’re gonna see where we’re gonna train next month. We’re trying to get up to AKA, but Fitch is trying to give me some problems about that. And all Jon Fitch has to do is look on the wall [at AKA]. Whose picture is on the wall holding the belt? That’s all Jon Fitch has to know.
Why does Fitch have a problem with the idea of Penn coming in for training? Well, it seems there are some bad feelings still lingering from the controversial and closely-contested draw between the fighters back at UFC 127 in early 2011.
And make no mistake about it. There are indeed bad feelings lingering about, especially from Fitch. Check out his comments from Tuesday’s conference call designed to promote the new AKA reality show Fight Factory, which debuts August 15 on NuvoTV:
Here at AKA, we’ve got fighters who come out to fight, fighters who will face anyone and don’t hide from any opponents. You’ve also got cowards out there like BJ Penn who say they want to fight people, but then they run and hide.
He’s a coward. He wouldn’t be welcomed here.
Well, then. It looks like Penn won’t be returning to AKA any time soon, or at least as long as Fitch is around. We rarely hear Fitch turn up the heat like this.
And it sounds to me like Fitch still wants that do-over with Penn. He might get the chance down the road, but he first needs to get past Brazilian super-prospect Erick Silva at UFC 153 in October. That’s far from a sure thing, of course. But if Fitch can do it, perhaps we’ll see him line up across the cage from Penn one more time.
I don’t always go to weddings. But when I do, I am almost interesting.
When it was announced that Rory MacDonald had suffered an injury and pulled out of his upcoming bout with BJ Penn at UFC 152, Penn seemed content to sit out and wait for MacDonald to heal. Because the fight against MacDonald was Penn’s motivation to come out of retirement, BJ Penn appears to be, dare I say, determined to fight the heir apparent to Georges St. Pierre. Yet despite Penn’s plans to wait for MacDonald, both Jon Fitch and Siyar Bahadurzada have volunteered to step in on short notice to fight BJ Penn.
It’s not hard to figure out why either man wants this fight, yet it’s doubtful that we’ll be still seeing BJ Penn across the cage from one of them any time soon.
Perhaps the more transparent – and also less likely to come to fruition – callout of the two is Jon Fitch’s casual suggestion that he should be fighting BJ Penn at UFC 153. I say this because Jon Fitch already has an opponent for UFC 153, and it is none other than Brazilian wrecking ball Erick Silva. As we’ve pointed out when the fight was booked, Silva is anything but a rebound fight for the thirty four year old AKA product. Considering that Fitch hasn’t won a fight since he beat Thiago Alves two years ago, a loss to Silva – which is certainly not outside the realm of possibility – can easily end his hopes of ever earning another title shot in the UFC.
I don’t always go to weddings. But when I do, I am almost interesting.
When it was announced that Rory MacDonald had suffered an injury and pulled out of his upcoming bout with BJ Penn at UFC 152, Penn seemed content to sit out and wait for MacDonald to heal. Because the fight against MacDonald was Penn’s motivation to come out of retirement, BJ Penn appears to be, dare I say, determined to fight the heir apparent to Georges St. Pierre. Yet despite Penn’s plans to wait for MacDonald, both Jon Fitch and Siyar Bahadurzada have volunteered to step in on short notice to fight BJ Penn.
It’s not hard to figure out why either man wants this fight, yet it’s doubtful that we’ll be still seeing BJ Penn across the cage from one of them any time soon.
Perhaps the more transparent – and also less likely to come to fruition – callout of the two is Jon Fitch’s casual suggestion that he should be fighting BJ Penn at UFC 153. I say this because Jon Fitch already has an opponent for UFC 153, and it is none other than Brazilian wrecking ball Erick Silva. As we’ve pointed out when the fight was booked, Silva is anything but a rebound fight for the thirty four year old AKA product. Considering that Fitch hasn’t won a fight since he beat Thiago Alves two years ago, a loss to Silva – which is certainly not outside the realm of possibility – can easily end his hopes of ever earning another title shot in the UFC.
And honestly, I’m sure I speak for most of us when I say I’d be okay with that. Even though BJ Penn and Jon Fitch are still tough fights for anyone to draw, they represent the past, not the future, of our sport. Watching Fitch attempt to avenge a recent draw on his record to BJ Penn, who would later call him a “glass jawed poser,” is nothing more than a regression. Like Ben asked about the “Bringing back your old self” ban, does the old Jon Fitch/BJ Penn really excite you more than the new Erick Silva? Didn’t think so, so let’s not bump the Brazilian prospect off of a card in his home country to relive a fight that, frankly, wasn’t worth remembering in the first place.
Siyar certainly is an intriguing enough fight for BJ Penn to consider. “The Great” impressed fans with a quick, brutal knockout over Paulo Thiago in his UFC debut at UFC on FUEL TV 2. Fans have been patiently waiting for more of him, and even though Penn recently retired, he’s still a big enough name to make this a marketable fight.
There’s just one problem: While Rory MacDonald is widely regarded as the future of the welterweight division, Bahadurzada is still only known for his lone UFC appearance. If Penn is coming out of retirement to see if he can compete against the next generation, a victory over Siyar The Great will not prove this. This isn’t to say that Siyar Bahadurzada won’t be an exceptional talent – or even that he isn’t already – but rather he isn’t nearly as established of a name as Rory MacDonald currently is.
That all being said, what do you think? Are you okay with BJ Penn waiting for Rory MacDonald? Would you like to watch Jon Fitch redeem himself against Penn? Would you like to see Bahadurzada prove his greatness? Let us know.
With that in mind, take a look at this video, in which Kos has a casual conversation with friend and former training partner Jon Fitch, and discusses the beef with former camp American Kickboxing Academy (specifically, coach Javier Mendez) that he apparently just can’t let go of. In the video, he admits that he hopes AKA “burns to the ground” with “maybe one person” in it. Hint: Mendez is the person he’s hoping for. To be fair, Koscheck also openly admits to being a D-I-C-K dick, so at least he’s willing to man up about that whole issue.
See Javier’s response, courtesy of MMAFighting, after the jump.
(When Mendez refused to kiss Koscheck’s boo-boo and make it all better, a rivalry had officially been started.)
There are few things that are simply a given in the MMA world, and they are:
With that in mind, take a look at this video, in which Kos has a casual conversation with friend and former training partner Jon Fitch, and discusses the beef with former camp American Kickboxing Academy (specifically, coach Javier Mendez) that he apparently just can’t let go of. In the video, he admits that he hopes AKA “burns to the ground” with “maybe one person” in it. Hint: Mendez is the person he’s hoping for. To be fair, Koscheck also openly admits to being a D-I-C-K dick, so at least he’s willing to man up about that whole issue.
Javier’s response, courtesy of MMAFighting, is below.
(the question comes up at the 1:25 mark.)
“It’s who he is,” Javier states bluntly, laughing through the fact that his former student of eight years more or less just wished for him to die. At least they can agree on one thing: Josh Koscheck is a dick.
With that in mind, take a look at this video, in which Kos has a casual conversation with friend and former training partner Jon Fitch, and discusses the beef with former camp American Kickboxing Academy (specifically, coach Javier Mendez) that he apparently just can’t let go of. In the video, he admits that he hopes AKA “burns to the ground” with “maybe one person” in it. Hint: Mendez is the person he’s hoping for. To be fair, Koscheck also openly admits to being a D-I-C-K dick, so at least he’s willing to man up about that whole issue.
See Javier’s response, courtesy of MMAFighting, after the jump.
(When Mendez refused to kiss Koscheck’s boo-boo and make it all better, a rivalry had officially been started.)
There are few things that are simply a given in the MMA world, and they are:
With that in mind, take a look at this video, in which Kos has a casual conversation with friend and former training partner Jon Fitch, and discusses the beef with former camp American Kickboxing Academy (specifically, coach Javier Mendez) that he apparently just can’t let go of. In the video, he admits that he hopes AKA “burns to the ground” with “maybe one person” in it. Hint: Mendez is the person he’s hoping for. To be fair, Koscheck also openly admits to being a D-I-C-K dick, so at least he’s willing to man up about that whole issue.
Javier’s response, courtesy of MMAFighting, is below.
(the question comes up at the 1:25 mark.)
“It’s who he is,” Javier states bluntly, laughing through the fact that his former student of eight years more or less just wished for him to die. At least they can agree on one thing: Josh Koscheck is a dick.
Josh Koscheck and Javier Mendez didn’t exactly have an amicable parting earlier this year.Koscheck trained at Mendez’ American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose ever since leaving college. After he made a few (million) bucks in the UFC, he even opened a p…
Josh Koscheck and Javier Mendez didn’t exactly have an amicable parting earlier this year.
Koscheck trained at Mendez’ American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose ever since leaving college. After he made a few (million) bucks in the UFC, he even opened a pair of AKA-affiliated gyms in Fresno. Things were going so well, or at least they seemed to be. AKA and its legion of members always stress that they’re something like a family, and from my own personal experiences during visits to the gym over the years, I can confirm that to be true.
But not every family is a picture of serenity. Problems develop between siblings or children and their parents. Sometimes it’s repairable, but sometimes you just have to go your separate ways. That’s what happened between Mendez and Koscheck, and it was an ugly ending to a long-term relationship.
Koscheck told vague bits of his side of the story earlier this year. He gave his AKA gyms a new name and told folks that he never wanted to step foot back in San Jose. Then he blamed the entire thing on Mendez. Once he’d gotten that out of his system, I figured the whole thing was over.
Boy, was I wrong.
In a clip from the new AKA reality show Fight Factory, Koscheck is seen having the following discussion with former teammate Jon Fitch:
Koscheck: “I hope the gym burns … to the ground. Is that bad?”
Fitch: “As long as I’m not in it.”
Koscheck: “Hopefully nobody’s in it … well maybe one person. But if it burns down I’m cool, and we’ll be good.”
Now, in fairness to Koscheck, I’d like to add a little bit of context.
The first portions of Fight Factory were filmed in the early portions of this year, back when the split between Koscheck and Mendez was still fresh. So this isn’t some kind of lingering hatred from something that happened months ago. For Koscheck, the wound was still sore at the time this clip was being filmed.
That’s not to say that everything between Mendez and Koscheck is all roses and Candyland at this point, of course. It probably isn’t, given the severity of these feelings from Koscheck’s side.
Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn didn’t stay retired for long, accepting a high-profile match up with rising star Rory MacDonald in June. “The Prodigy” told MMA Weekly his bout with the 23-year-old Canadian is a “dream figh…
Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn didn’t stay retired for long, accepting a high-profile match up with rising star Rory MacDonald in June.
“The Prodigy” told MMA Weekly his bout with the 23-year-old Canadian is a “dream fight” for him, despite the criticism he received for accepting the challenge.
Everybody was like, “Well, you have nothing to gain, why are you doing this? C’mon, go fight someone else. This is a dream fight for Rory, he can get motivated,” and this and that, but what they’re gonna find out soon is that this is my dream fight, going up there and beating them in Toronto, in their hometown in front of everybody. I’m excited to fight in Toronto. Perfect. There couldn’t be a better place to get this done.
One of only two fighters to hold a UFC title in two separate weight classes, with “The Natural” Randy Couture being the other, Penn seems to be a sure thing for the UFC Hall of Fame one day.
However, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert is just 1-3-1 in his past five fights, going winless in 2011. Prior to losing the decision to Diaz, Penn fought perennial contender Jon Fitch to a draw at UFC 127.
On the other hand, MacDonald is 13-1 as a professional fighter, with his sole blemish coming at the hands of UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit in June 2010.
“Ares” is currently a 3 to 1 favorite over Penn, but could the Hawaiian have one more vintage performance left in the tank?
Fans will have a chance to see for themselves at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada on Sept. 22.
So much for the idea of BJ Penn heading back to his old American Kickboxing Academy stomping grounds for a little bit of training before his bout with Rory MacDonald, whenever it happens.
