B.J. Penn is the most versatile fighter in the sport today. There are those who will object and say that Anderson Silva or Georges St. Pierre has him beat in terms of versatility, but St. Pierre lacks Penn’s jiu-jitsu prowess (and the blackbelt and world championship win) and Anderson doesn’t, at least from what we’ve seen, have the same capacity for ground and pound that Penn does.
If you put most champions in the cage with anybody in their division, just a middle of the pack fighter, they would revert to their game plan and dispose of their opponent with relative ease by playing their game. Penn wouldn’t do that.
B.J. Penn debuted in the UFC and was billed as a jiu-jitsu prodigy, something that we all knew he was. B.J. didn’t even finish an opponent with a submission in his first stint in the UFC. Instead, he made everyone in the division respect the power of his strikes when he knocked out Caol Uno, Din Thomas and Joey Gilbert, fighters who he was expected to work to the ground and submit.
Penn’s versatility is frightening for any opponent because it means that anyone who comes into the fight with the conventional skillset (boxing or muay thai in the standup, wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in the grappling) runs the risk of being tooled in their own style the way that Stevenson was brutally out-grappled and Din Thomas was knocked on his ass. That, really, is the hardest thing for a fighter to come in and do.
What’s really hard about fighting in this current UFC division, sifting through it and looking for contenders with non-conventional fighting styles is that there really aren’t any. Even the top fighters in the division, Sherk, Florian and Huerta, are very much conventional fighters and, realistically, the most exotic style that we see in the division is judo, which Penn already has a blackbelt in (sorry, Manny).
There are those who would like to see Nate Diaz step in with B.J., arguing that Diaz’s power and submissions skills are sufficient to challenge the Prodigy. They’re not.
Penn is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt and world champion. Diaz has good jiu-jitsu by MMA standards, but Penn’s jiu-jitsu has overcome the barrier between jiu-jitsu competition and MMA, translating perfectly to full contact fighting. Penn has all of the skills in an MMA match that he would use in a BJJ match, and he’d out-grapple Diaz in either with some ease.
The other man who looks like a dark horse in this division, and may very well emerge as a contender after the winner of Huerta and Florian takes their shot (and, most likely, loses), is Rich Clementi. The problem with Clementi is that while he’s a good, well rounded fighter, there’s nothing he does better than Penn. His submission skills have carried him to a few great victories, but his wins are over guys who have no submission skills. Penn would decimate him on the ground and standing the fight goes to Penn easily.
So we have to find someone who will challenge Penn, not necessarily someone who will win. They have to have consistency, which rules out two of the men most people consider the top guys to fight BJ (Gomi and Diaz), but Penn already beat them anyway. It also rules out another top ten lightweight, Joachim Hansen.
I almost wrote Aoki in as an easy out. Aoki has great jiu-jitsu and might give Penn problems on the ground, but, realistically, the fight would never go to the ground. Aoki’s striking is still rudimentary, and his wrestling isn’t good enough for him to maintain a clinch with Penn if Penn doesn’t want to. I have a feeling that a matchup between the two would be less competitive then everyone seems to think, staying in the standup and ending in favor of Penn when B.J. lands a hard strike and puts Aoki out.
Gesias Cavalcante is another top guy on the list, because of his versatility, power and submission skills, but he runs into the same wall that most opponents do. He simply doesn’t do anything better than B.J. does. His wrestling isn’t as a good as Penn’s, his jiu-jitsu isn’t as good as Penn’s, and his striking isn’t as good as Penn’s. While he’s good at everything, he’s not better at it than B.J. is.
This leads me to the name I want to drop, and people might of stepping outside of the weightclass and picking a guy who isn’t even that active in the sport right now. Still, it’s for lack of a better option, as this is a fighter who has incredible skill and has dominated everyone he’s stepped in with.
So, here it goes.
The best fighter to beat B.J. Penn is: Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto
KID is the best opponent because he can, unlike anyone else, beat B.J. in a major area of the game, and make the fight competitive in another.
KID, I believe, can out-wrestle B.J. with his Olympic background. While he doesn’t have fantastic submission skills, he’s explosive, powerful and dangerous. He’s one of the few guys who can cut to 155 that will make a striking match with Penn interesting, and while I don’t think that he’ll necessarily beat Penn, if he can sprawl and brawl with the UFC champ, there’s a good possibility that he can win the striking game.
Yes, KID is a smaller fighter, and that may be the biggest challenge for him, but if anyone can get around Penn’s reach, get inside and do damage that actually effects Penn, it will be the K-1 champion.
Again, this is speculative, but for me, Penn is hardest fighter to find an opponent to beat, not because he is unbeatable, but because his division lacks the skill sets required to beat him. No one can counter strike him in a way that will do damage. No one can sprawl and brawl in a way that will do damage. So, yes, I cheated a little in picking Yamamoto, but he is the hardest fighter for me to dig up an opponent for.
Next up, the interim UFC champ, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
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May 27th, 2008 at 3:52pm
Fair dincum. I just hope Penn doesn’t rush to get to st.Pierre (excuse the pun) as i would like to see him in some more dominating fights against fair competition. I think Huerta would give him a good run for his money although i wouldn’t expect him to win. I haven’t seen enough of Kenny to see if he’s got a good enough skill set to make a fight between the two competitive.
May 27th, 2008 at 3:56pm
Nice to see your comments about Gomi. I’d happily watch them fight again. There was a rather over-excited guy rattling on about how Gomi would destroy Penn at Sherdog on their forum. As I said, over-excited an doff the wall with such comments. Penn is great though, I wanna see him fight more this year adn hope he doesn’t have to wait too long before it happens.
May 27th, 2008 at 4:17pm
Josh,
I like what you are doing for these articles…I wonder where the inspiration came from…haha
As much as it pains me to say, B.J. Penn could be considered the best pound per pound in the world. If St.Pierre and Anderson Silva lose a couple he would be considered that guy. One thing I do like him is that he surrounds himself with great training partners such as Faber.
KID could be a good fight for him but it seems like every time I say he could be in trouble he makes me eat my words. I would like to see a Sherk rematch (The Sherk we are used to seeing, not the boxing type). I am also curious what would have happened if Stevenson would not have got his skull exposed.
May 27th, 2008 at 4:44pm
Thanks for the responses, guys.
I’ll be honest, Curtis, I do think that BJ is the best p4p fighter in the world. Given that he is, in my mind, more well rounded then anybody else.
May 27th, 2008 at 5:37pm
I would agree if he is taking it seriously! We haven’t seen him pushed into the later rounds to prove it just yet. If he does and shows solid cardio then I agree.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:15pm
You should probably do some research or actually just know anything at all about the sport before you write an article like this. KID doesn’t cut to 155. He doesn’t ever weight 155. Randy Couture, who is arguably the best wrestler in mma, has stated he rarely got BJ down in practice and couldn’t hold him down. KID doesn’t cut to fight at 143. I don’t think it’s a huge mystery that BJ would be able to handle KID’s wrestling.
Your opinion on KID’s striking is befuddling too, I get the impression you haven’t actually seen any of KID’s fights.
As for people who could effectively counterstrike against BJ, why not just bring up the most obvious person, who you even mention in the article, which is Kenny Florian. Sherk’s leg kicks had BJ icing his leg in the back after the fight and Kenny has much better leg kicks than Sherk. Kenny won’t go in with the reach disadvantage Sherk did and though people haven’t been talking about it, Sherk was landing clean blows during the fight. Kenny is also dangerous any time the fight hits the ground with his elbows. He could even stop the fight against BJ with BJ in his guard.
Huerta is hard to hold down, has incredible submission defense, has endless cardio, and decent striking… plus his style is to push the pace. If his chin held up he could easily gas BJ and outwork him for a decision.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:16pm
trevor, you’re argument is ridiculous.
Where is Kenny better than BJ? He loses that fight everywhere. Period. Huerta does too, and I’m not convinced that BJ couldn’t groundnpound him if he wanted to.
You think that BJ would be able to handle an Olympic caliber wrestler? Okay. You’re entitled to that opinion.
You think BJ would manhandle KID’s striking? You’re entitled to that opinion.
You’re entitled to your opinions, but you’re wrong.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:40am
I do think BJ Penn can handle an olympic caliber wrestler, in fact it’s straight from the mouth of one, Randy Couture! So it’s not just my opinion, it’s an actual olympic wrestler’s opinion.
Where is Kenny better? I don’t think that’s what fights are about, we can’t quantify who has “better” skills in each area, every fighter can do different things in different positions. I provided two examples of where Kenny could do damage to BJ, leg kicks and with elbows from his back. If you think BJ Penn is some kind of stand up god because he spent three rounds beating up a short wrestler with no punching power, that’s your problem. And if you can find an example of anyone ground and pounding Huerta, one person, I would love to hear it.
I even said I thought BJ would handle KID striking, I just thought it was weird you think KID is a particularly good striker since he’s never even fought anyone with good stand up.
May 28th, 2008 at 6:29am
Trevor,
I apologize if it seems like I am baching you but I am not. I like a differance of opinions.
However, I can’t stand Penn but we all know he is heads and shoulders above the rest of that class in every position!
Penn is not a standup god… but you don’t have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the people who you are with……
He is the best boxer at 155. If you don’t believe so ask Jens Pulver…
Huerta hasn’t beat anyone that could beat Sherk, let alone Penn…..
May 28th, 2008 at 2:34pm
trevor, if your only understanding of Penn’s standup comes from his fight with Sherk, then I’m not the one who needs to do research. We’re talking about a guy who showed up and decimated three great standup fighters in his first three UFC fights, when no one even thought he knew how to strike.
Florian has good standup, but you’re delusional if you think that he’s going to be able to pick apart Penn. Penn is a more aggressive striker, he’s got a better chin, he’s got faster hands and a more versatile striking style that comprises a more solid clinch game (both from the thai plum and with dirty boxing) and from open range (where he has quick punches and substantial knees).
You think that Florian could hurt Penn off of his back? That’s your delusion.
I won’t deny that Florian has great elbows off of his back, and I won’t deny that he has a great submission game from there. What I will say is that BJ has more powerful wrestling than anyone Florian has beaten and even (a point that you have argued for me) possibly Sherk, who he stuffed a few times.
Florian is a great fighter and is a very well rounded guy, but if you are going to beat BJ you have to be able to win the fight somewhere.
You can’t have good skills everywhere and step in against a guy who has better skills everywhere. That’s a fight you are doomed to lose. As much as matchups make fights, this fight isn’t a matchup based fight.
Couture was a multiple time Olympic alternate. While that’s a huge accomplishment, and the weight difference is notable, it’s also important to recognize that there’s a difference between Greco, where Couture was an Olympic alternate, and freestyle, where KID competes. I tend to think that freestyle is a more applicable form of wrestling, but I think it’s more important to recognize that that’s where BJ doesn’t have nearly as much training, unlike Greco where he has alot of experience working with guys like Couture and he can bring his Judo background into play.
As far as KID’s striking:
Uno’s not a good striker? Curran’s not a good striker?
More importantly, though, KID’s striking is impressive by performance. It’s impressive because he dominates guys and controls guys and, frankly, outclasses guys. Huerta and Florian can do that, sure, but neither of them can keep a fight with BJ standing if he doesn’t want them to. At least KID has the ability to sprawl and brawl with BJ if he’s winning the standup.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:23pm
“He is the best boxer at 155. If you don’t believe so ask Jens Pulver…”
The guy who took him to decision and won by boxing?
“Huerta hasn’t beat anyone that could beat Sherk, let alone Penn…..”
Maybe so, maybe not. I think Guida would have a shot against Sherk since he has equivalent wrestling and good cardio. But that’s not how I evaluate fights. I think the skills Huerta has shown (toughness, cardio, good sub defense, good chin, nearly impossible to hold down, frenetic pace) give him a shot to beat BJ.
“We’re talking about a guy who showed up and decimated three great standup fighters in his first three UFC fights, when no one even thought he knew how to strike.”
Uno, Thomas and Gilbert aren’t great stand up fighters. And come on man, how are you going to bring up fights from that long ago to say how good of a striker BJ is today? Why don’t you bring up the fact he couldn’t put away Uno the second time, Pulver or Serra? Don’t cherry pick. I never, ever said BJ doesn’t have good striking, or good power. He can hurt guys standing and he has a great chin, no doubt. But he can be out-struck and he fights at a really slow pace if he can’t put it away early and can get away with it.
I also disagree that Penn has a more diverse striking style. Kenny has a much larger variety of kicks, elbows and punches, in my opinion. Another area Kenny is stronger than Penn standing is his use of combinations, he sets up his punches with his kicks very well.
I agree Penn is more likely to KO Kenny in the clinch than Kenny is to KO him, but Kenny is dangerous in the clinch as well and you can ask Chris Leben what I mean.
“What I will say is that BJ has more powerful wrestling than anyone Florian has beaten and even (a point that you have argued for me)”
BJ has better DEFENSIVE wrestling than anyone Florian has beaten. Note Randy Couture didn’t say he couldn’t get BJ down or hold him down and he also was on his back a lot. I don’t think Penn has a great offensive wrestling game, certainly not as good as Mishima’s, and Florian was able to stuff some of Mishima’s shots. I think short of being hurt and pulling guard, Kenny could keep it on his feet against BJ if he wanted to.
“As much as matchups make fights, this fight isn’t a matchup based fight.”
Every fight ever fought has been a match-up based fight.
” I tend to think that freestyle is a more applicable form of wrestling”
You’re going to have to back this up with something. I don’t think there is any demonstrable proof freestyle is better for MMA than Greco, in fact I can think of a lot of situations when being able to control and takedown from the clinch is much, much safer and more reliable than shooting a single or double leg.
“Uno’s not a good striker? Curran’s not a good striker?”
No and no.
“More importantly, though, KID’s striking is impressive by performance. It’s impressive because he dominates guys and controls guys and, frankly, outclasses guys. Huerta and Florian can do that, sure, but neither of them can keep a fight with BJ standing if he doesn’t want them to.”
He didn’t dominate Bibiano Fernades or whoever that brazillian dude was. He doesn’t dominate every time out. He has knock out power, for sure. I don’t know where you’re coming from with Huerta not being able to stay off his back, no one has ever kept him on his back and he’s fought a lot of guys who are better at taking people down than BJ. And I think Florian could stay up against BJ too, at least some of the time. He stuffed Din Thomas and Mishima.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:59pm
Trevor,
Great responce. I can tell you spent a good amount of time on it.
but……………
You mentioned Josh bringing up old fights to prove Penn’s standup….
didn’t you just try to do the same about Pulver beating Penn? That was 7 years ago…
Why don’t we move on to Sunday’s Faber vs Pulver fight?
June 29th, 2008 at 1:11am
not a bad read, however there’s a couple of glaring things in there…
bj penn does not have a black belt in judo. perhaps you’re thinking about the time he out-grappled a judoka who had a black belt..to my knowledge penn does not have a black belt in judo and i have never seen proof in print or even heard it mentioned.
kid fights at featherweight, so being “one of the few guys who can cut to 155″ is an odd statement.