Is BJ Penn the best MMA ever?

Question

Steve, we are just talking "pound for pound". BJ Penn has never lost to anyone naturally lighter in weight, except Pulver, who he later beat.

Answer 1

His style represents the sport well.  He has exciting KO's and a world class ground game,  probably the most well rounded fighter the sport has ever seen,  him and Fedor anyways.   And he fights the best like Gomi, Hughes, GSP, Machida at different weights.  I don't know if he's the best but he is certainly the best s hit talker.

Answer 2

Right now in his weight class, he is the best..

Answer 3

Hes probably the most purely and naturally talented fighter so far in mma...and with him now being motivated to be the best ever, hes a different fighter. I've always said that a motivated in shape BJ Penn is unbeatable...

Answer 4

him or machida. i like bj penn the most though.

Answer 5

Size doesnt Realy Matter when you have technique... Thats the reason he won Sherk...Hes not the best but hes up there

Answer 6

Sure you can say that  , many people do. Here is my top pnd for pnds

GSP

Fedor

Anderson Silva

Lyoto Machida (not because I just saw him fight tito, He has beat BJ penn and Rich Franklin.)

BJ Penn

Kid yamamoto

Answer 7

Not ever No... but in his weight class possibly

SC

Answer 8

No. But he's quite good though. He takes his punches wisely. He has good quickness and evasiveness to punches.

Answer 9

Naturally, yes.

He slacked off a lot in the past years and still schooled a wide range of top competition.

He went up two weight classes and even though wasn't dominant, he faired really well for someone who is just naturally smaller.  He was also somewhat chubby - I don't know how many people can fight as well as he did in such horrible fighting shape.

Size isn't as important, but he's a small guy to begin with.

It's easy to say since GSP and Hughes beat him, that he's not pound for pound...but if they cut down, I doubt they would be as effective with the weight loss.  Yet, BJ goes to THEIR class to challenge them...then he goes up to LHW to challenge Machida.

You can't say guys like GSP and Anderson are pound for pound, because they've only fought within their weight classes.

Not saying they couldn't do it, but that's what separates BJ from the rest.

Answer 10

yea i would say BJ is the pound for pound best fighter. anderson silva is probably a crazy striker but he hasnt fought any wrestlers  with double leg take downs yet. i think if you got a strong 185 lb wrestler not greco but american wrestler silva couldnt do anything about it. fedor is well rounded too but unlike silva theres still alot of fighters he has left to fight in the heavy weights. GSP is turning into a pure wrestler which is annoying me. even though it works it just says hes scared to stand up after what happened with serra. from the fight with BJ he couldnt even take BJ down until the 2nd round when he got tired. and the only reason he was tryin to take BJ down was cuz BJ broke his nose standing up. so i gotta say BJ is pound for pound the best fighter.

Answer 11

It is always going to be a big debate as to the best pound for pound fighter, but I would definately put BJ in the mix.  I would also include, Fedor, Anderson Silva, and GSP.

Although, BJ is home grown, I still have to give the edge to Fedor.  Until someone can beat Fedor, he will always have to be considered one of the best, even though he has not had quality fights recently.  People still forget he beat down Nogueira twice in his prime, Crocop in his, Semmy Schilt (I believe still reigning K-1 Champion), and won the only 2 Pride grandprix tournaments he entered.  We must not forget that he is also the reigning World Full-contact Sambo champion too.

I would even go as far as saying if Fedor beats, Silvia, Couture, Arlovski and Josh Barnett, he would be the best fighter ever.  With those wins he would have beaten every fighter that has ruled the heavyweight division around the world for the last 10 years.

Answer 12

NO....when he gets his *** handed to him by GSP, then you will know.  Even though he wants to move up in weight to fight, GSP could also go down....either way, Penn takes an *** whippin.

Penn could be the best if he worked at it...every fight, his conditioning is questioned and for good reason.  If he has to go 5 against someone that is at his skill level, it is his demise.

Answer 13

point blank yes pound for pound it can not be disputed