UFC: In Defense of B.J. Penn

I'm a semi-delusional B.J. Penn fan. I admit it. I have been for a long time, and I always be.

After years of countless debates with those who hate him and neither side ever changing their stance, I've pretty much conditioned myself not to join the fray anymore.

But recently, I was called out to write my own story on him after commenting on another's story, so here goes.

B.J. Penn is a mixed martial arts fighter, the current UFC lightweight champion and former UFC welterweight champion of the world. He is a phenomenal fighter with tremendous God-given talents.

He’s also a lightning rod for controversy. His legions of die-hard fans who marvel over his flexibility, heavy hands, and iron chin are met with an equal number who call him lazy, disrespectful and arrogant, a jerk and a bad sportsman, among other insults.

Let's go down this list and tackle each point.

Penn is lazy and undisciplined, shows up to fights in poor shape, and gasses after one round. In the past, I and even B.J. himself would’ve likely agreed this assessment.

But based off his performance in his last three fights, these charges just don’t hold water anymore. He hasn't just defeated three of the top lightweights in the world, he's steamrolled through them.

At no point did Pulver, Stevenson or Sherk have him in any sustained sort of trouble. Couple his performances with recent remarks about his newfound dedication to the sport and a strong desire to cement his legacy, it'd be hard pressed for anyone to effectively counter that he is still lazy and undisciplined.

He's an arrogant jerk on par with Matt Hughes. To me, there's a very big difference between the two, and you only have to read remarks made about Penn and Hughes by other professional MMA fighters to see the difference.

Right or wrong, Hughes is disliked by not only a large majority of fans, but a large number of fighters as well. From Matt Serra to Joe Riggs to Frank Trigg to Tito Ortiz and on and on, many can't stand him.

Counter that with remarks made about B.J. from other fighters. He's almost universally liked and respected. Just a sample of direct quotes by legendary fighters are listed below:

And off the top of my head, I've heard compliments and respect bestowed to B.J. from countless other well-respected fighters such as Dan Henderson, Rampage Jackson, Matt Lindland, Joe Lauzon, Frank Trigg, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Takanori Gomi, Royce Gracie, Eddie Bravo, Marc Laimon, etc.

Would he generate this many compliments if he were truly a jerk of gigantic proportions and disliked by fighters? I genuinely doubt it.

He's disrespecting the sport by moving up and down and bouncing around weight classes. Critics will point out that he holds a slightly above average 4-3 record when fighting above weight, but how many natural lightweights are willing to move up and fight not just in higher weight divisions, but the absolute best in those divisions?

Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre, Lyoto Machida, Rodrigo Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Bang Ludwig. These are all very good to elite fighters in their weight classes.

Penn took them on and while he lost three of them, he put up a good showing every time. Never mind lightweights, how many fighters period have given Lyoto Machida as much trouble as B.J. did? How can he be disrespecting the sport when he has been competitive in every fight that he's gone up?

And let's be clear, he's not the only fighter that has been given immediate title shots after having gone up or down in weight.

Randy Couture, one of the most beloved and respected fighters of all-time, was given an immediate HW title shot against Sylvia after losing to Chuck at LHW for the second consecutive time.

Let's not kid ourselves, there's some preferential treatment going on here. But it's earned preferential treatment.

Couture and Penn and other fighters are given these shots because they have proven track records and have put in years of blood, sweat and tears in the UFC.

It's the same way in any sport: the superstars in the sport are generally treated better than others. Why should we expect MMA to be any different?

The blood licking. Ah, the blood licking. Let me start off by saying that I don't like it when he does this and believe that it's disrespectful to his opponents. But let’s analyze the two incidents in which blood-licking has been involved.

The first was against Joe Stevenson, and I’m 100 percent positive there was no animosity in it towards Joe. The two are good friends. B.J. licked his gloves, which I believe had already been wiped off blood by a towel from his trainer. So I don’t think there was any blood on his gloves at the time. It was a symbolic gesture.

Against Sean Sherk, it was more blatantly disrespectful, and I don’t have a leg to stand on there. I like and respect Sean Sherk a lot. But there was a lot of built-up bad blood leading up to the fight (which I'll admit B.J. started), and I can only imagine that his more primal instincts took over.

Penn has said before that he almost needs to hate his opponents to get up for a fight. But in the end, I agree that he should stop doing this.

So, whether or not this article has changed anyone's mind or anyone will even read it, I don't know. I doubt it. But as promised to another person on this site, here is my Penn article. He is the fighter that he is, in large part, because of the very same qualities that Penn bashers hate so much, not in spite of them.

His fearlessness and supreme confidence in himself, his brutal honesty and refreshingly unscripted answers, his amazing natural talents, I could go on and on. Package them all together, and it's why he's my favorite fighter.

I won't delude myself into thinking that he's perfect. Like every fighter and every human being, he has his faults just like you and me.

But he wouldn't be who he is if you took away even one of those qualities that critics bash him for. If you can't get past the blood-licking despite all his other qualities, oh well. It's MMA, not ballroom dancing.