B.J Penn's next fight continues tradition of lofty ambitions
The career trajectory of B.J Penn is one of the most interesting in the mixed martial arts world. He came into the Ultimate Fighting Championships as a phenom, won fights in impressive fashion, but failed
to win the lightweight (155lb) championship, losing first to Jens Pulver, and then drawing Caol Uno in a fight so disastrous it caused the UFC to scrap their lightweight division.
He then moved up, won the welterweight (170lb) championship as a huge underdog against Matt Hughes, but then disappeared to Japan for years fighting at ridiculously high weights before coming back, failing
to beat Hughes in a rematch, then winning the lightweight championships and defending it in spectacular fashion, then losing it in two lack-lustre fights against Frankie Edgar.
In other words, Penn’s career has been a mixture of disappointing showings that have caused people to question whether his career had peaked on the spectacular performances that earned him the nickname of
the “The Prodigy”.
On Saturday 20 November, Penn put in one of the latter performances, turning in a spectacular, brutal 21-second knockout of Hughes in a rubber match after fans had questioned his fighting spirit, his age
and his conditioning. But now Penn doesn’t seem so over the hill at 31 years of age.
But Penn’s never been known for taking the easy road, which explains his career of amazing successes and huge setbacks. He’s recently off an amazing success, but now UFC president Dana White has placed him
against Jon Fitch in his next fight, and aside from fighting Georges St-Pierre or Frankie Edgar, it’s tough to see how he could have been given a more difficult task.
Fitch has long been far and away the second best welterweight in the division, with wins over a who’s who of the 170lb in the UFC. At 13-1 in the promotion, with his only loss coming to champion St-Pierre,
his style is almost a perfect counter to Penn’s. Penn is a small lightweight, and Fitch is a big strong welterweight who habitually takes his opponents down, holds them down and lays down minimal damage on the way to picking up an easy decision.
In short, Fitch makes opponents look bad and he’s long been a dilemma for the UFC, because he has the reputation of also being the most boring fighter in the UFC. So they’ve been keeping him away from a title
shot, because at best he’ll provide a fight that’s difficult to sell, and if the unthinkable happens and becomes the champion, they’ll have an unmarketable champion.
In short, they’ve been giving him opponent after opponent in the hopes someone will beat him, but Fitch continues to motor along. If he beats Penn, the idea of not giving him a title shot will be ludicrous.
So for the sake of the UFC, Penn has to beat Fitch. The UFC is now banking on Penn to be exceptional, and somehow beat someone that 13 of the 14 opponents Fitch has faced in the UFC have failed to do. Penn’s
fists will be much, much faster than Fitch’s, but he’ll also need to rely on his intense competitive spirit.
The Penn who was famous for pacing around the ring like a caged bull, for talking to himself, for howling with delight while he choked out Kenny Florian and for l*****g the blood of his downed opponents off
his gloves disappeared for two fights against Edgar, but came back against Hughes, with Penn running out of the cage wildly after the win.
The UFC’s put their hope in Penn. It’s no guarantee he’ll do it, but if he can somehow beat Fitch, he’ll have confirmed that the nickname of “The Prodigy” still applies, eight years after he started his career.
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