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BJ Penn wants Diego Sanchez within 8 weeks; still wants GSP

6K views 95 replies 54 participants last post by  Toxic 
#1 ·
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
Post the article next time, n00b.

"I'd like to get a fight with St. Pierre again, but now that Diego Sanchez is next. It's gonna happen hopefully within the next two, two-and-a-half months. He's really good; he's really explosive. He's shown that he has some knockout power and he's a very good grappler. He's very hungry; he's shown that he wants to be a champion someday. This is an important fight. I'm 30 now and I'm hoping to get a couple of more fights in. I know they say that in MMA, people peak later, but who knows? My whole career, fighting from age 20 to 30, I've gotten into real good shape and gotten out of shape and started getting back into shape again. I don't want to do that anymore. Here I am. I'm in shape. I want to have fun for a couple of days, take some time off, eat some good food, and then I want to get right back into all that stuff."

-UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn wants a quick turnaround after his big win last weekend against Kenny Florian. Penn, who's had conditioning issues, wants to take on top lightweight contender Diego Sanchez as soon as two months from now and reveals his plan to stay in shape year round rather than yo-yo in and out of shape between fights as he'd done previously.

Typically, two months is considered a "full" training camp for MMA fighters meaning Penn would have to jump directly back into camp to face Sanchez. The fact that Penn intends to stay and shape year round and get back into camp immediately spells trouble for the rest of the UFC's lightweight division.
 
#8 ·
Man, GSP awoke a sleeping beast. The motivated BJ that fought Florian was a scary being and if he wants to stay in shape and fight that close again that means he is only gonna get in better shape, man the UFC better start searching for a challenge because there really isnt anyone in the LW division I see giving BJ that much trouble even outside the UFC I mean who in Japan is better than BJ in any aspect of MMA? Aoki is a great grappler and may be as good as Penn problem is he'll ever get BJ down and the stand up would be one hell of a one sided beat down. Nobody can touch him, Diego isnt that good never was never will be.
 
#21 ·
A motivated BJ is as dangerous as any fighter! D.S. will pose a very good challenge though. He's hellluve intense...wondering how the staredown is gonna be...I can see it already...lolz!

BTW: Good fights man. Funny how that one dude was trying to bum rush you with random attacks then you hammer fisted him in the end! :thumbsup:
 
#13 ·
Was I the only one not that impressed with Bj in the Florian fight? I mean, he defended Kenny's TD, and beat him up inside the clinch... duh? Bj won easily, I agree, but that fight didn't show anything new and spectacular from Bj to me, it just showed that KenFlo is an idiot and had a bad game plan.
 
#14 ·
I said in one of the other threads that I was a little puzzled by how much love BJ was getting after the Florian fight. Kenny gave him more trouble than I thought he would, the first 3 rounds were close enough that Florian could have won them with one flurry or take down at the end. If he had done to him in the first what he did in the 4th I would have been impressed but I've seen many performances more dominant than that.

Look at BJ's face at the end of round 3 when you watch the fight and tell me that isn't someone who looks frustrated.
 
#17 ·
Wow that would be pretty amazing to see BJ back in the octagon in a couple of months.

BJ says he wants to stay in shape all year round, I want to believe him -- we'll just have to see.
 
#22 ·
I was as impressed as possible while not watching A. Silva by BJ's last win. Hell after the GSP affair even I was saying Florian was going to beat BJ but only for a little while.
A couple of thoughts:

1. BJ will not be the first fighter to finish Diego Sanchez.
2. It is no longer a foregone conclusion BJ will tire in 5 rounds. I confess, before UFC 101 I was honestly counting the days until Diego was champion based strictly on cardio.
3. Sanchez beat Guida more soundly than the judges gave him credit for.
4. Diego should do no press from now until the fight.
5. Everyone is the champs "toughest opponent yet"....Diego really is BJ's toughest 155 challenger yet. REALLY.
6. AND....Diego will have the cardio and size advantage in this fight. Diego WILL get the takedown against Penn if he wants it which he will....because he will attempt to outpoint BJ.
7. If BJ strikes like he did against Stephensen, leading with uppercuts and what not, BJ may KO him because BJ has the BJJ, striking, and title experience...these are more important then size and cardio coz the size difference may be miniscule and BJ has progressed with his cardio....to Diego's level? Remains to be seen.

THIS FIGHT WILL BE AMAZING. BJ is BJ and Diego will bring more to the table then anyone else has. I believe Diego can win this fight but it would be fan bias for me to not acknowledge BJ is the favorite in this fight....had a mean case of fan bias goin into Fitch v. GSP...gotta rise above it this time.

WAR DIEGO!
 
#23 ·
5. Everyone is the champs "toughest opponent yet"....Diego really is BJ's toughest 155 challenger yet. REALLY.
Hmm, I thought Sherk represented a tougher matchup for BJ than Diego does.

6. AND....Diego will have the cardio and size advantage in this fight. Diego WILL get the takedown against Penn if he wants it which he will....because he will attempt to outpoint BJ.
GSP and Hughes had trouble taking BJ down. Diego is going to have a tough time getting BJ down IMO.
 
#37 ·
I def agree. I really didn't understand kenny's gameplan. He has never been a great wrestler and he will never be gsp. I really thought he should have utilized his footwork and work his kicks...

As for those that "wasn't impressed with his berformance". I think someone said it best when they said that kenny's gameplan didn't allow him to be spectacular.

However there are def things that impressed me about bj:
1. his conditioning
- he's no clay guida or gsp, but atleast he had enough cardio to be explosive when he had to even in the later rounds.
2. his poise/patience
- bj paced himself very well and exploded only when the opportunity presented itself.
3. his striking
- the fact that kenny, a competent striker himself, wanted no part in striking speaks volume. I really can't think of any other strikers in the lw division that can trade with bj.
 
#31 ·
Diego vs Penn is going to be a fun fight to watch and I'm pretty sure Diego will get the next shot. I also think Gray Maynard would deserve to get involved in the title picture soon. He hasn't finished anyone in a while, but it seems nobody he's faced has had any answer for him.
 
#32 ·
BJ still has no answer to someone putting him into the side of the cage other than just maintaining position. Florian effectively held him there and I think Sanchez will be able to do more than that. Florian didn't have what it took to wear BJ down but I don't see Sanchez having that problem.

I think BJ has heavier hands than Sanchez but I think reach advantage will come into play in their fight. Florian didn't use his dynamic striking and it cost him; I suspect we'll see a good fight between these two.

I've never been a big BJ fan but at least he is finally fighting at 155 like he wants to be there.
 
#43 ·
BJ had no answer to Florian putting him into the side of the cage? Why did he need one, Kenny was doing nothing but burning energy and personally Id say taking his ass down and making him look like an amateur on the ground was a pretty damn good answer :dunno:, Sanchez is just like Florian people think they have "dynamic" striking which is all fine and entertaining but they are screwed when they come against somebody like BJ who is so much better technically in there stand up. BJ hurt Kenny everytime Kenny tried to stand hell he had Kenny reeling before there fight hardly started and will do it to Diego as well, BJ is just that much better a fighter.
 
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#34 ·
This notion that you are going to wear BJ down at 155 is absurd Diego's striking is wild BJ will pick him apart and end it early. There really isn't any such thing as overtraining that is just something fighters made up to justify why they lost. It isn't like you are doing cardio and weight training for 8 hours every day the week of the fight to where your muscles would be so tired going in you wouldn't have anything left.

BJ is going to retire early like Andy and he wants to put on a string of dominant performances and clear out his division so they can't refuse him his rematch with GSP as his final fight. GSP is the only guy aside from Lyoto Penn has lost to and hasn't beaten and he is obsessed with that and a lot of people need to learn to deal with that as a reality that isn't going away.
 
#35 ·
BJ is going to retire early like Andy and he wants to put on a string of dominant performances and clear out his division so they can't refuse him his rematch with GSP as his final fight. GSP is the only guy aside from Lyoto Penn has lost to and hasn't beaten and he is obsessed with that and a lot of people need to learn to deal with that as a reality that isn't going away.
I really don't think that rematch is happening. I think that is a reality that BJ needs to wrap his head around. He lost twice with the second one being absurdly lopsided. How often is there a third fight in that situation? Shamrock-Ortiz is the only one I can think of.
 
#40 ·
The craziest thing about that article is not the fact that BJ has decided to stay in shape but the fact that he actually had some good things to say about his opponent. Who kidnapped BJ Penn?
 
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#42 ·
The thing I wonder about in this fight is what effect BJ's striking will have on Diego's aggression and can Diego even make his striking effective? Part of Diego's gas tank is that BJ is going to have to put up with the same strength and number of strikes all 5 rounds.

But back to the first point, BJ wilts people with his striking but no one has ever done that to Diego and I don't see BJ doing it either...at all really. Diego's fighting style is not conducive to getting picked apart by a jab. Diego won't get outmuscled in the clench. It is possible BJ is left with counterstriking as his main attack and that's when BJ will be put against the fence and in the later rounds he is more susceptable to the takedown.

For BJ to avoid this he will have to rock Diego to slow him down....never been done and will be tough to do coz if Diego does get hit he will probably close the distance. But of course BJ has the ability to do this and if we get the fight we want, Diego will get hit with some shots and it is unlikely Diego will rock Penn, really unlikely.

What a fantastic matchup, I hope the UFC builds this up the way it deserves to be. Its only 4 months til the end of year big show, I wish they would co-main event this with a Lesnar fight. Sorry Lesnar will be the main event of every forceeable main PPV and I think thats fantastic. Penn/Sanchez deserves the biggest audience possible.
 
#45 ·
How are we seeing a different BJ now? He's always been better conditioned and more effective at 155 pounds. There's nothing new about that.

Is this some kind of advance hype for GSP-BJ III, to make it seem like BJ actually deserves that fight, and will somehow do better with one more shot?
 
#48 ·
I would certainly like to see the fight but Aoki looks like he would be giving away a lot of muscle to BJ. I know Aoki doesn't rely on strength but if he fought BJ I suspect he would be overwhelmed especially if the fight took place in an Octagon.
 
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