UFC 127 Fight Card: BJ Penn's Top 7 Career Defining Moments

UFC 127 will be headlined by what Dana White has announced to be a No. 1 contendership welterweight bout between Jon Fitch and BJ Penn.

While Jon Fitch has completely squashed the UFC outside of the Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, it hasn’t always been as smooth sailing for his opponent, former multi-weight champion BJ Penn.

The Hawaiian native began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at just 17-years old. He became the first non-Brazilian in history to in the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the black belt category in 2000, just weeks after being awarded his black belt by Andre Pederneiras.

With his amazing accomplishments in Jiu-Jitsu, Penn was quickly contacted by the UFC who were able to convince him for a multitude of reasons to make the transition to mixed martial arts.

What came of the transition is now the stuff of legend. Many believe BJ Penn to be the greatest lightweight in the history of mixed martial arts and his overall game puts him among the best of all-time at any division.

As he heads into what is one of the biggest fights his his remarkable career, let’s look back at a timeline of some of the biggest career-defining moments in the career of “The Prodigy.”

BJ Penn Loses Decision to Jens Pulver (UFC 35)—1/11/2002

Penn debuted in the 155-pound division, notching three relatively easy-looking wins over Joey Gilbert, Din Thomas, and Caol Uno before he suffered the first loss of his career against then UFC Lightweight Champion, Jens Pulver.

With a career record of 11-2-1 at the time, the first and only UFC Lightweight Champion was far more experienced than Penn, who was fighting in just his fourth professional MMA fight.

BJ held his own in the fight but lost a unanimous decision. That loss seemed to almost fuel Penn as a fighter, though, as he went on to go 7-0-1 in his next eight fights.

Later in their careers, Penn would get revenge when he submitted Pulver in the second round of their fight at The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale in June 2003.

BJ Penn Submits Matt Hughes (UFC 46)—1/31/2004

A night that will likely be remembered as the biggest in the career of BJ Penn is Jan. 31, 2004 at UFC 46.

Penn was making the jump up in weight classes after fighting to a draw at lightweight with Caol Uno in his last UFC fight. Following the draw between the two fighters, the UFC decided to disband its lightweight division, forcing Penn to move up 15-pounds to the 170-pound welterweight division.

In his first fight at welterweight, Penn faced UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes, who had been arguably the most dominant fighter in the history of the sport at that time, compiling a record of 35-3. Hughes had completely dismantled the UFC’s welterweight division and the company was looking for new opponents for him.

Enter “The Prodigy.”

Late in the first round, Penn rocked Hughes who fell to the ground and gave up his back. Penn stayed calm and worked his positioning as the fans looked on in shock. He was soon able to apply a rear naked choke which Hughes was forced to submit to.

Penn was crowned the UFC Welterweight Champion in just his first fight ever in the division.

Penn Leaves UFC (2004), Then Returns to UFC (2006)

Mark Nolan/Getty Images

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 22: BJ Penn spas during an Open Workout ahead of UFC Sydney 127 at Star City on February 22, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Controversy hit BJ Penn after his win over Matt Hughes at UFC 46.

Shortly after the win, Penn signed to fight for K-1, claiming that there was a lack of challenging fights left for him within the UFC, even though he had only fought once at welterweight.

Frustrated at Penn’s apparent lack of respect, the UFC promptly stripped Penn of his Welterweight title, claiming that he breached his contract by signing to fight in another organization and that he refused to defend his title. Penn countered with a lawsuit as he believed that his UFC contract had expired, a motion which was denied.

Penn fought four times in K-1, winning three, and losing just once to future UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida. Machida weighed in at 220 pounds for the fight, while Penn could only get his body up to 191 pounds. Still, Penn put up a good fight and the decision was actually somewhat controversial as some believe Penn could have been awarded the victory.

At UFC 56, Dana White announced that the UFC had come to an agreement with Penn and that he would be making his much-anticipated return at UFC 58 against Georges St. Pierre.

BJ Penn Submits Joe Stevenson (UFC 80)—1/19/2008

After losing back-to-back fights to the two greatest welterweights in the history of MMA, BJ Penn finally made his return to the UFC’s newly re-established lightweight division.

In his first fight back at lightweight, Penn submitted Jens Pulver, avenging the first loss in his career, and earning himself a shot at the UFC Lightweight title. In the fight for the vacant title, Penn faced Joe Stevenson who was 13-1 in his last 14 fights, including a four fight winning streak.

The beating that ensued was one of the most dominant victories in MMA history, with Penn completely destroying Stevenson both on the feet and on the ground, opening up a huge gash on Stevenson’s head that poured a horrific amount of blood.

Penn eventually submitted Stevenson with a rear naked choke, winning the UFC Lightweight title in the process.

But the most memorable part of this event might have actually been what Penn did after Stevenson’s submission. With Stevenson’s blood dripping off of his gloves, an ecstatic Penn famously licked them off. Disgusting, but awesome.

BJ Penn Gets TKO’d by Georges St. Pierre (UFC 94)—1/31/2009

After completely destroying the lightweight division, BJ Penn decided to again move up to welterweight and attempt to avenge his split-decision loss to Georges St. Pierre from UFC 58.

The first round of this highly-anticipated fight was fairly even with Penn stuffing St. Pierre’s takedowns and using his quick striking. But the ensuing four rounds were as one-sided of a beatdown as any of St. Pierre’s best victories. The knock on St. Pierre from their first fight was that he really didn’t do much damage to Penn. But in the second fight, it was completely different.

St. Pierre took Penn down at will, hammering him with tremendous ground-and-pound and completely negating anything the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt attempted to do from his back.

It was between the fourth and fifth rounds that Penn’s brother called for the fight to be stopped, marking the worst loss of his career.

A later interview revealed that Penn would have likely “retired on top” with both the Welterweight and Lightweight titles if he won the fight, so for many of we fans, it’s actually good that he didn’t come out on top.

BJ Penn Loses Decision to Frankie Edgar (UFC 118)—8/28/2010

Penn was the UFC Lightweight Champion for nearly 27 months, having absolutely destroyed all of the top contenders in the division. But it was his title defense against Frankie Edgar at UFC 112 that flipped the division upside down.

The dominant champion was an overwhelming coming into the fight but Penn lost a controversial unanimous decision to Edgar, losing his title in the process.

In a very similar situation to what happened in his first fight with Georges St. Pierre, many fans and experts alike believed that Penn was robbed of what should have been a victory for him, given that he really didn’t take much damage in the fight.

At UFC 118, though, Penn would get his chance for redemption.

Edgar shocked everyone when he took Penn down seemingly at will, even despite Penn’s legendary takedown defense. Edgar won a lop-sided, unanimous 50-45 decision across the board and there was absolutely no questions about who won the rematch.

The loss marked the end of a historic run at lightweight for Penn who has since moved back to welterweight.

BJ Penn Knocks out Matt Hughes (UFC 123)—11/20/2010

The most recent fight of BJ Penn’s career marked what many believe to be the resurgence of Penn into contendership at the welterweight division.

After being dominated by UFC Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar, Penn moved back to welterweight at UFC 123, facing a familiar foe in Matt Hughes—a man whom he defeated to win his first UFC title back in 2004.

But it was a dominating loss to Hughes at UFC 63 that had many fans wondering which BJ Penn we would see in this fight. Hughes completely hammered Penn in their second fight, ending the fight via referee stoppage in the third round as he held Penn in a modified crucifix and rained down undefended punches on his face.

There was quite a bit of controversy about the second fight because it was believed that Penn actually injured a rib early in the fight which may have led to him gassing prematurely.

There would be no controversy in Penn/Hughes III.

Just 21 seconds into the fight, Penn caught Hughes with a thunderous right hand that sent Hughes to the mat. Penn pounced on his fallen opponent and finished the fight with a few more punches before the referee stepped in and called an end to the beating.

Hughes isn’t the dominant fighter he used to be but he was still one of the best 170 pound fighters in the world and could be used as a catapult for BJ’s confidence going into this fight against Jon Fitch. Hughes actually worked with Penn while he trained for the fight as BJ was looking for someone who could emulate the smothering wrestling technique that Fitch utilizes in many of his fights.

It will be interesting to see whether Penn has learned from his past and comes out with a different gameplan to fight Fitch or if he will be held on the ground and neutralized for three rounds.

If Penn gets the win, we could be looking at “Career Defining Moment No. 8.”

If he loses, we may be saying goodbye to “The Prodigy” for good as he puts an end to a wonderful career.

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