BJ Penn: The Prodigy or The Problem?

By TLOS listener, Barry Pape

The UFC has a problem on its hands; what to do with BJ Penn? “The Prodigy” has lost his belt and the subsequent rematch against Frankie Edgar by being out-wrestled, and Edgar is facing a better wrestler in Gray Maynard that already has a win against the current lightweight champ, meaning that in MMA math, Maynard would do a Koscheck-Daley impression against Penn should they fight.

So naturally, the UFC’s solution to the Penn dilemma: match BJ Penn against one of the best MMA wrestlers in the history of the UFC, Matt Hughes, in a welterweight contest at UFC 123 in Michigan.

Did I miss something? I thought the UFC was trying to push the person already in the UFC Hall of Fame out of the way.

Let’s try to analyze this match. BJ Penn was out-wrestled against for almost an hour of total fight time by a bulked up 145 pounder, even taken down almost at will in the second fight against Edgar and was not able to get up when he was taken down. Now, Penn is facing a fighter in Matt Hughes that thinks wrestling first, is excellent at denying the opponent on the bottom from getting sweeps, is a better striker than Edgar is, and will most likely walk into the octagon on fight night weighing at least 190 pounds.

Considering how bad Penn looked against Edgar, this scenario does not bode well.

The thing I have to ask is what is the UFC thinking?

Penn is the most dominant lightweight champion the UFC has ever had. It is Penn’s natural weight class. Fighting at lightweight forces Penn to train, because the last time he fought at welterweight against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94, Penn looked out of shape and was gassed by the end of round 2 trying to get up off his back after being taken down repeatedly by GSP.

Does anyone else think that this is the exact same tactic that Matt Hughes is planning on using?

Wouldn’t it be better for the UFC to keep Penn in the title picture for the 155 pound title? A third Penn-Edgar match will probably never happen, but should Maynard win, the lightweight title picture is going to open up again. By fighting at 170 pounds next, Penn is taking himself out of the picture in the immediate future for that title, unless Dana decides to throw Penn in against Maynard (should he win of course), but there is a real possibility that Penn would enter that fight on a three match losing streak. Not a likely scenario.

Wouldn’t it be better for Penn, instead of fighting at 170 pounds, to have another fight at 155 pounds. There are a lot of good candidates out there that the UFC could match Penn against that would be a compelling fight.

Personally, I would like to see Penn-Gomi 2. The first fight was in 2003, when both were the clear numbers 1 and 2 lightweights in the world. That fight was back and forth early until Penn took over the fight late, and both fighters left that fight elevated in status because of the performance. True, Gomi is not the Gomi that dominated the PRIDE ring at that time, but neither is Penn is same dominant fighter either. This would be a fight that the winner of which would be elevated into instant title contention, but for some reason it was not considered by the UFC.

The Penn-Hughes fight is signed at will happen, but one hopes that this fight isn’t going to be the last we see of “The Prodigy”, because a dominating loss might force Penn out of the ring again, and this time, it might be for good.