Georges St. Pierre and B.J Penn: Complete the Trilogy in 2010?

After dominant back-to-back victories over top contenders, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez, UFC Lightweight champion B.J Penn is running out of worthy challengers in the 155-pound division.
 
Fighters such as Gray Maynard, Frankie Edgar and Tyson Griffin are certainly top notch competitors, but is there a soul out there that believes any of them would hold a candle to “The Prodigy?”

Penn has become the lightweight equivalent of UFC Middleweight champ, Anderson Silva, in the sense that he has spent the last few years, dominating every opponent that dared to cross his path, like a vicious Tyrannosaurus Rex. 
 
The only blemish on Penn’s record in the past two years was a humiliating defeat at the hands of current UFC 170-pound king, Georges St. Pierre. In their second meeting, at UFC 94, Penn was man-handled around the octagon like a red-headed step child by St. Pierre, until Penn’s corner threw in the towel in the fourth round.
 
Normally when a fighter suffers such a one-sided beat down at the hands of their arch-rival, it usually squashes any beef they had between them. On the contrary, with the whole “Grease-Gate” controversy surrounding the fight, the rivalry is as heated as ever and if both fighters continue their winning ways we may see a third and final fight between them in 2010.
 
But does a third, St. Pierre vs. Penn matchup make sense? Let’s take a look at why it would and why it wouldn’t. 
 
 
Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J Penn III is smart for the UFC
 
Grudge matches sell pay-per-views, period. When you have two fighters who hate each others guts and have a burning desire to inflict as much pain as possible to each other then you’re going to generate a tremendous build-up or “fight hype” which in turn, will garner incredible ticket sales, lining the pockets of UFC President Dana White and all those involved with the UFC.
 
For their long anticipated rematch at UFC 94, the UFC broadcasted its first ever “UFC Primetime” special which featured real-time footage of Penn and St. Pierre during their preparations for the fight. The broadcast was very similar to the model laid out by boxing with their “24/7” series that they air on HBO to hype up their headlining fights.
 
For weeks, fans got to see both Penn and St. Pierre talk a ton of smack to each other—which was mostly done by Penn—and this constant verbal jabbing resulted in a much more anticipated matchup for the PPV.

Sure, Penn was brutally beaten and humiliated by St. Pierre, but so was Ken Shamrock, all three times that he fought against Tito Ortiz. Despite not mounting much offense in the first two fights, fans still showed interest in a third matchup between Shamrock and Ortiz due to the intense rivalry between them.
 
St. Pierre is not the Ortiz to Penn’s Shamrock, because the first time they fought Penn bloodied St. Pierre with crisp boxing, and to this day, some fans will argue that Penn should have been awarded the decision instead of St. Pierre.
 
Yes, the second meeting was incredibly one-sided, but with “Grease-Gate”, some could make the argument that Penn was cheated due to not being able to control a greasy St. Pierre on the ground.
 
A trilogy fight would make sense both from a promoter’s standpoint and a fan's standpoint. Watching Penn and St. Pierre easily dominate everyone in their weight class is starting to become quite dull and the two champions are running out of compelling matchups.
 
If these two warriors were to complete the trilogy, fans will want to see it and the UFC will generate a ton of revenue for it.
 
On the other hand… 
 
Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J Penn III is a bad move for the UFC
 
Say what you want about “Grease-Gate” but the fact of the matter is that St. Pierre did not cheat his way to victory at UFC 94. Yes, there was some grease on him due to his corner-man Phil Nurse, but it was quickly wiped off of him by the Nevada state athletic commission and it did not play a factor in the actual fight.
 
Welterweight champion St Pierre used his powerful wrestling base to overwhelm the much smaller Lightweight champion, not dominanting Penn on the ground, but proving himself to be the more effective striker on the feet.
 
Penn looked bloated and out of shape, like he always does when he moves up in weight to try to prove himself against larger fighters. One hundred and fifty-five pounds is the perfect weight class for Penn, because that is the division where he is able to showcase his incredible talent and athleticism. In any other weight class, Penn is only able to rely on his talent, but his conditioning suffers. Instead, at lightweight he enters the octagon, shredded, and ready to fight at a frantic pace for the full five rounds.

Penn can destroy any lightweight in his path, but don’t let that mislead you into thinking that he could earn a victory over St. Pierre if they were to complete the trilogy. The result would be exactly the same as the last time, with Penn losing a very one-sided bout to the Canadian dominator and once again damaging his pound-for-pound status.

Instead of pushing for a third bout between the Lightweight champ and the Welterweight champ, the UFC should instead look to increase the legitimacy of their title contenders.

Top lightweights such as Maynard and Edgar are viewed to be next in line for a shot at Penn’s title but, until now, the UFC has done a terrible job of marketing them as such. The same goes for St. Pierre’s next title challenger, Dan Hardy. Hardy is unbeaten in the octagon and coming off a huge win over Mike Swick, but barely anyone views “The Outlaw” has a threat to St. Pierre’s throne.

It’s time for the UFC to bulk up the legitimacy of their contenders. Champion vs. champion headliners are certainly exciting, but they do nothing but make one champion look very, very weak. A smarter approach would be to come up with sound marketing strategies to hype up young prospects and rising contenders.

Let Penn and St. Pierre continue to run through their competition in their respective weight classes. When Michael Jordan dominated as a point guard for the Chicago Bulls, did they ask him to switch to center? When A-Rod dominates as a third baseman, do they force him to play left field? Absolutely not, and it should be no different with the sport of MMA.

Besides, if a mega-fight is in the works for the 2010 calendar, it should be between St. Pierre and Middleweight champion, Anderson Silva. That's the fight that fans have been waiting years for and would be much more anticipated than a third matchup between Penn and St. Pierre.