By Thomas Gerbasi

 

A rational person just doesn’t do what BJ Penn does. You don’t win the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world championships in Brazil if you’re an American; you don’t make your mixed martial arts debut in the UFC, the biggest promotion in the United States; you don’t jump up to welterweight from lightweight and beat a long-reigning champion in your first fight at the new weight; you don’t fight heavyweights if your best weight is 170 pounds; and you certainly don’t return to the UFC for the first time in over two years and request a fight with the toughest new kid on the block.

 

You don’t. BJ Penn does.

 

If you’ve followed the sport of MMA for any amount of time, you know that the pride of Hilo, Hawaii has specialized in doing the things most fighters won’t. That includes his request to face top contender Georges St. Pierre in his return to the Octagon this Saturday in Las Vegas at UFC 58. No tune-ups for ‘The Prodigy’, and he explains why.

 

“I saw him (St. Pierre) get down on his knees and he begged for the title shot,” said Penn, referring to St. Pierre’s public request for a title shot after his win over Sean Sherk last November.   “Now he’s got it. I still believe I’m the champion – I don’t know where Hughes got his belt from – and this is my first title defense. I’m gonna make my second title defense against Matt Hughes, and then we’re gonna see where I take it from there.”

 

You make a statement like that, and a collective ‘whoa’ can be heard far and wide. But Penn doesn’t care. He’s a competitor that likes putting it all on the line, both physically and verbally, just so he can have the optimum amount of pressure on his shoulders come fight night. 

 

And there’s plenty at stake at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

 

Not only is Penn returning to the Octagon for the first time since his title-winning effort over Matt Hughes in January of 2004 (a legal dispute with the UFC, recently resolved, forced the stripping of his belt and kept him from competing in the organization), but he is doing so against the consensus number one challenger to the crown, and with a rematch against Hughes hanging in the balance. That type of pressure can normally take it’s toll on a fighter, but ever since a precocious 21-year-old Penn made his name on the world stage by winning the Mundials in Brazil in 2000, he’s embraced it.

 

 “I never took it serious,” said Penn, who started training in jiu-jitsu at 17. “But I started taking it serious right before the finals of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world championships. I was in the finals, and I remember me and Charuto (Verissimo) were going to eat lunch, and I just sat there and thought to myself ‘I’ll never be in this position ever again. Go out there and do whatever it takes.  Whether your arm gets broken, you get choked unconscious, anything that happens, win this match, do it now, no matter what.’ And that’s why I think I’m good when the pressure’s on. I’m a clutch player when the pressure’s on and that’s when I perform at my best. That’s who I am.”

 

Penn became the first non-Brazilian to win the Mundials, and in 2001, he would make his MMA debut, stopping Joey Gilbert in the first round at UFC 31. Since then, he has won all but three of his fights, with close decision losses coming to then-UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver and heavyweight banger Ryoto Machida (who holds TKO wins over UFC middleweight king Rich Franklin and Stephan Bonnar), as well as a draw with Caol Uno in their rematch (Penn won their first fight by knockout).

 

The win column is what impresses though, with Hughes, Uno, Din Thomas, Takanori Gomi, Matt Serra, Bang Ludwig, and Renzo and Rodrigo Gracie all on his victims list. It’s an impressive run anyway you slice it, and his desire to face anyone and everyone, regardless of weight or standing, has made him a cult hero to diehard MMA followers. What motivates him to do the things he does?       

 

“I don’t even know,” he chuckles. “I just like all kinds of challenges, and when it’s all said and done, I want to know what it’s really like to be able to have been in the ring with all those different types of people.”

 

Doesn’t he have those around him who may question his decisions though, especially when he’s jumping up in weight to fight fighters like Hughes and Machida?

 

“Of course, you’ve always got those kinds of people; you’ve always got infidels around, but it doesn’t matter,” he said. “I just tell them to sit back and watch.”

 

And watch we do. But while Penn’s stellar technique and reckless disregard for careful matchmaking has launched an army of message board threads over the years, he believes that it’s his mental acumen in the Octagon that sets him apart from his peers.

 

“It’s everything,” he said. “You see these great guys come out and then they try something for one or two minutes, they find out their technique’s not working and then they give up. The mental side is everything. The techniques have to be flawless, but the mind has to be tough. It has to be more flawless and you can never give up. I would even sit here and say that I’m in the entertainment business and the fight game business, but I’m also in the making you quit business. That’s what it’s all about.”

 

That type of talent and warrior’s mentality can be a curse sometimes though. When you’re at that level, the human tendency would be to occasionally slack off, knowing that talent and the ability to outthink a foe can be enough to beat some opponents. Penn insists that this isn’t the case with him, even though he could have plenty of distractions if he wanted to in sunny Hawaii.

 

“All I do is train,” he said. “I never take shortcuts because what else am I gonna do? I’m bored if I’m not training. There’s stuff to do here, but I don’t know how to do anything else – there’s nothing else for me. Everything else is boring. So I never take a fight easy. I always train enough to win, no matter what. Even if people are like ‘oh you’re taking that easy, you came into that fight looking out of shape or this or that,’ I’m always in enough shape to win the fight.”

 

And he’s obviously not looking past St. Pierre to get another crack at the man he submitted in 2004, Hughes.

 

“Every fight is different, every fight poses it’s own – I wouldn’t say difficulties, but it’s own challenges, and it doesn’t work like that,” said Penn when asked about overconfidence. “You just go out there and you fight the guy who’s standing in front of you. And then you just beat him and keep moving on to all the goals that you set.”

 

For Penn, those goals may change from hour to hour. But one thing’s for sure – he’s not shy about asking to fight anyone in this sport. That attitude has endeared him to the fans, and will continue to attract a newer generation of fans who may not have even known who BJ Penn was when he was re-introduced to fight fans at UFC 56 last November.

 

“The new fans were probably like ‘who is this guy?’” laughed the 27-year-old Penn. “I should have walked out there with my belt on. But all the old fans were pumped – I guess they want to see me back in and see me fight all those new guys who are in the UFC.”

 

The fans aren’t the only ones, as Penn is eager to get back into the cage and as he would put it, “just scrap.”

 

“It’s great to be back in the UFC and I’m pumped,” he said. “There’s nothing like those fans in the mainland and I haven’t fought there in so long, it’s almost like I’m reborn and refreshed. I know it’s gonna be awesome walking out there with all those fans screaming. Everybody’s excited about this fight. I’m in the entertainment business and that’s why I put fights like this together.”

 

And that’s when he hits you with the kicker. 

 

“I feel like when I fought Caol Uno the first time,” said Penn, referring to his 11 second knockout of the respected Japanese fighter in 2001. “I’m staying up at night and I’ve got a different feeling, I’ve got a nervous energy going. I think we’re gonna maybe get to see moments of greatness come March 4^th.”

 

More than 11 seconds worth of greatness?

 

He laughs.

 

“That would be a perfect ending,” admits Penn, “but it’s better to make the guy quit mentally.”