BJ Penn – ‘The Prodigy’ Comes Full Circle

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By Thomas Gerbasi

In the fickle world of pro sports, especially pro combat sports, few athletes can command the attention and devotion of fans for more than a few years without that initial rush wearing off. But six years into his fighting career, BJ Penn still has that “it” factor, that aura that when he’s in the room, something special is going to happen.

He’s even described it himself, telling this scribe before his 2006 rematch with Matt Hughes, “there’s just something about BJ Penn that gets people amped up. You don’t know what’s gonna happen, but something’s gonna happen though. He might disappoint you, he might make you happy, he might make you cry, he might make you jump out of your chair, but he’ll do something to you.”

When reminded of this quote last Friday, moments after he captivated a packed house of UFC Fight Club members for an hour of questions and autographs, he just laughed.

“I think that’s it and that’s how I feel,” said Penn. “I can piss you off, a bunch of different things can happen, but something is gonna happen. Plus, I think the fans appreciate that fighting is my life.”

It wasn’t always that way though. When Penn made his MMA debut in 2001 (in the UFC no less), he was 22 years old, just a year removed from becoming the first non-Brazilian to win a gold medal in the Black Belt division of the Mundial World Jiu-Jitsu Championships, and in every way, shape, and form, he was ‘The Prodigy’. Fighting was something to do and something he was good at – nothing more, nothing less.

He went on to walk through Joey Gilbert in his UFC debut, and he was even more impressive in stopping Din Thomas in the first round and knocking out Caol Uno in just 11 seconds. A lightweight title shot against then-champion Jens Pulver was a given, and he was expected to similarly blow through Pulver at UFC 35 in January of 2002. He admits now that he wasn’t ready though.

“The Din Thomas fight and the Caol Uno fight, those were probably two of the best things for my career, to blow me up and to get me a bigger fanbase, but they were also the worst things for my career as far as getting me experience to get ready for that title fight,” said Penn. “And I was scared going out there and being the main event. I think I was more afraid of everything else – I was afraid to have that lightweight title, I was afraid to be the main event – but don’t do something great if you can’t take the congratulations, and I wasn’t ready to get congratulated. I was just a kid.”

Pulver went on to upset Penn over five rounds and retain his title. ‘Lil’ Evil’ would leave the UFC over a contract dispute after the bout, and after Penn bounced back with wins over Paul Creighton and Matt Serra, he was again matched with Uno at UFC 41 in 2003, this time with the vacant belt on the line. Five rounds couldn’t determine a winner that night, and a draw verdict was rendered.

In a lot of ways, that draw sent Penn into a period of his career where his focus was scattered. Sure, he would submit Takanori Gomi in a non-UFC bout and then come back to the organization to win the welterweight title from Matt Hughes in 2004, but whether it was leaving the UFC and his belt to fight elsewhere, or jumping to heavyweight to battle Lyoto Machida in 2005, Penn’s career resembled that of a kid in a candy store who wanted to try everything but at the end of the day wound up with a toothache.

Eventually, Penn would mend fences with UFC management and return in 2006 with a razor thin split decision loss to Georges St-Pierre. A rematch with Hughes served him with another defeat, and some wondered whether Penn was destined to be a shooting star who fizzled out after a short reign at the top. But when he dropped back to 155 pounds to coach against and later fight Pulver again, Penn found his center again by going back to where he started.

Now 28, Penn was spectacular in avenging his first loss to Pulver via a second round submission in June, and when he was offered the chance to stay at 155 pounds and fight for the interim lightweight title against Joe Stevenson at UFC 80 in January, he jumped at the chance, despite the fact that he holds wins over the current 170 pound champ (Serra) and the top contender (Hughes), and went to the wire with the former champ (St-Pierre).

“Dana White has given me the chance to make history and to become the only other guy in the UFC with two belts in two different weight classes besides Randy (Couture), and I can’t pass that up,” said Penn. “I fought for the lightweight title twice and it’s eluded me, and for myself, I gotta go finish that off and put it away.”

Of course, there will be those skeptics that will question Penn’s ascension to the crown since he will not have beaten the man currently holding the belt – Sean Sherk, who is in limbo as he awaits his appeal hearing with the California State Athletic Commission following a positive banned substance test in July. Sherk is one of those skeptics, something that doesn’t sit will with Penn.

“If he’s gonna sit there and say this is a fake belt, he just tested positive for steroids, so what more can I say?” asked Penn, who did let fly with both barrels on Sherk during the UFC Fight Club Q&A. But with all the talk of Penn and the new bad blood brewing between him and Sherk, the man the Hilo product will be fighting on January 19th – Joe Stevenson – has almost been forgotten.

“That’s true, everybody has forgotten about Stevenson but me,” said Penn. “I know this guy and he brings some things to the table. He was the Ultimate Fighter champion, he’s got 40 fights, and he’s done a lot of things. He’s got a great choke, he’s got great foot locks, he isn’t gonna be scared to throw his punches at me, and he’s gonna be coming. I know it ain’t gonna be easy, but I’ve got to go out there and do this.”

And Penn insists that if he does win the belt, he’s not going to walk away from the game on top. Instead, he plans on staying around a while.

“I don’t want to do the five fights a year thing for three years and then I’m done, like all these fighters have done,” he said. “I want to do one to two fights a year for the next ten years. I want to keep my name out there for the next ten years.”

Sounds like a mature outlook on things, but as Penn has found out, that’s a gift that only comes with time. Luckily, he’s enjoying the ride.

“Without a doubt,” he agrees. “Now I can actually think about what’s going on, where back then it was just a dream. But now I’m more used to it. I’ve had a lot of big fights, I’ve had the highest highs and the lowest lows throughout my career, and like they say, you can’t beat experience.”

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