Amid the current controversy surrounding former two-weight champion B.J. Penn — a certain UFC pioneer has gone a long way to remind fans, new and old, of his dominant run in the Octagon.
Penn, who has been arrested multiple times this month in his native Hawaii, has been charged with harassment of his mother and other family members. He had claimed in the last number of years that his mother had been killed and replaced by an impersonator.
Considered one of the greatest lightweight fighters of all-time, Penn would scoop gold at the welterweight limit first, before then going on to strike the lightweight crown. Failing in his bid to become a two-weight champion simultaneously, the Hawaiian would, however, enjoy a stunning run in both divisions, defending his crowns on an incredible six separate occasions combined.
But while considered by many as a great at lightweight in his career, some have forgotten Penn’s impact on the division. Likely falling short in his bid to be recognized as the greatest when compared to both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, Penn has been lauded by UFC alum Din Thomas, nonetheless.
“It’s hard because of where MMA is today,” Thomas said on the One on One podcast. “And the platform of MMA — that it makes it seem that everybody is just so much greater now [than former fighters].
“But if you lived during them times, and you remember those times of how good B.J. was — it was different,” Thomas added.
“B.J. was just different. He was just different. He was really different,” he reiterated.
Comparing him to another lightweight great, former champion Charles Oliveira, Thomas claimed that Penn was head and shoulders above every one of his peers.
“When B.J. was beating the next best guys, it was like Sean Sherk and Diego Sanchez. And he was annihilating these guys. They weren’t even close,” Penn asserted.
And it’s not just Thomas who has gone to bat for Penn, but long-time color commentator, Joe Rogan — who called the majority of his Octagon outings.
Rogan brands Penn as lightweight GOAT
On the microphone for Penn’s title fight successes at the lightweight and welterweight limit, Rogan has waxed lyrical on the Hawaiian’s tenure in combat sports.
Putting him up against the likes of Nurmagomedov and Makhachev, Rogan has claimed, even still, Penn should be widely considered as the best lightweight to ever do it.
“When BJ Penn was in his prime, he was training with Marv Marinovich,” Rogan said on his podcast. Elaborating further on the subject, Rogan claimed that Marinovich had very unorthodox training methods involving plyometrics, explosive drills, sprints, box jumps, etc.
“I hope I’m not quoting him incorrectly, but he believed fight training was of secondary importance when you’re in camp, and really what was important is to just have a f***ing insane gas tank. BJ Penn knows how to fight. He’s a world champion,” he added. Noting that while people believe Khabib to be the greatest lightweight, Penn would find a place right next to him.
“…the BJ Penn that fought Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson, the BJ Penn that fought Sean Sherk, the BJ Penn that was in that peak when he was training [with Marinovich], I would put him against anybody,” Rogan asserted.
