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Dana White: BJ Penn And Tito Ortiz Will Join UFC Hall Of Fame

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Source: MMAFighting

UFC president Dana White revealed this week to MMAFighting that UFC mainstays Tito Ortiz and B.J. Penn will eventually join the likes of Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Matt Hughes, Dan Severn, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell and Mark Coleman (as well as TapouT co-founder Charles "Mask Lewis) in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Though White has a contentious history with Ortiz, the promotion's longest running light heavyweight champ, he said that The Huntington Beach Bad Boy's contributions to the sport and promotion are undeniable.

"Despite my personal problems with Tito, he belongs in," said White. "He was the champion when we first bought this thing. The fact that Tito is still here, Tito and I have had our moments, but it doesn't change what he did for the company.

"The beef between me and Tito, Chuck and Tito, the fact is, that played a huge role in helping making this thing as big as it is."

Ortiz is facing Forrest Griffin in a rubber match this July at UFC 148 in what is expected to be his retirement match.

B.J. Penn is another fighter that White has been at odds with more than once, but whom he believes is absolutely deserving of a spot in the Hall of Fame.

"The thing about B.J. Penn is that what he brought to the lightweight division, there was a point in time when we first bought this company when people thought guys in the lighter weight divisions could't be stars and couldn't see pay-per-views and couldn't cross over. B.J. Penn was definitely that first crossover guy for us," he said.

Though the 33-year-old Penn actually announced his retirement this past October, White doesn't see the fiery Hawaiian staying on the sidelines for long.

"He'll be back," White predicted. "It's tough, when there are 16,000 people in the arena chanting your name, it's tough to walk away from that. B.J. Penn is a fighter. You hear some of these guys, and Tito was one of these guys, he said he wanted to be famous. B.J. Penn is a fighter."

http://www.fightline.com/fl/news/201...48323/bj-penn/

I dont think many of you would disagree with this, but it got me thinking. With AS and GSP aside, which active fighters if they retred today would be inducted into the UFC HOF?

Hendo, Franklin, Edgar, Bones Jones, Aldo, Sylvia?

Dare I say Lesnar?

Also, are there any retired fighters who were once in the UFC and should be in the HOF? (Frank Shamrock)

Hendo is definitely going to be in there.

Also, Jon Jones when he decides to hang it up. But of cause, he have to keep doing what he do best. Win matches.

And maybe....Frank Mir?

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Originally Posted by ProdigyPenn (Post 1577780)

Hendo is definitely going to be in there.

Also, Jon Jones when he decides to hang it up. But of cause, he have to keep doing what he do best. Win matches.

And maybe....Frank Mir?

Do you think Mir deserves to be in over Rich Franklin?

Hendo in UFC hall of fame? Eh, maybe an MMA hall of fame, but he wouldnt be ready for a UFC HoF, at 41 I'm not sure if he'd ever be inducted, not too sure how many fights he's got left in him.

GSP, Anderson, Tito, and Penn are all locks.

I could maybe see the likes of Forrest, Rashad, Koscheck, Rich Franklin, Mir, etc inducted in the years to come.

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Originally Posted by Biowza (Post 1577785)

Hendo in UFC hall of fame? Eh, maybe an MMA hall of fame, but he wouldnt be ready for a UFC HoF, at 41 I'm not sure if he'd ever be inducted.

GSP, Anderson, Tito, and Penn are all locks.

I could maybe see the likes of Forrest, Rashad, Koscheck, Rich Franklin, Mir, etc inducted in the years to come.

Cant say I agree with that. He has a great record but it is padded. His best wins are over Diego Sanchez and Rumble Johnson and that Sanchez win should not even count since that fight sucked so bad. Im not even going to count that fight against Matt Hughes.

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Originally Posted by ASKREN4WIN (Post 1577783)

Do you think Mir deserves to be in over Rich Franklin?

Sure Franklin has the accomplishment to be potentially considered to be in the HOF not forgetting what a company man he can be.

As for Mir, he also has been fighting in the UFC for a long time. Like it or not, he is already a legend in the HW. Unless you talk about Big Nog, whom most accomplishment were accomplished back in the Pride Organization. (Well, to a certain extend, so is Hendo. Kind of double standard. I know :o)

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Originally Posted by ProdigyPenn (Post 1577780)

Hendo is definitely going to be in there.

never won a title

lesnar > hendo in ufc importance.

On Pride

- The UFC bought it, they air their specials every week and the guys that came it came in as PPV draws. As far as I'm concerned they should just do what the MLB did with the negro leagues and induct a giant class of them. Nog, CC, Hendo, Wanderlei, and Sakuraba put them all in at the same time.

On Tito

- I understand Tito as a draw but man, he's arguably not even one of the ten best 205ers of all time and he's going in the Hall of Fame.

On Koscheck

- I think he's a better Welterweight than Tito was a Light Heavyweight and you know they are going to have to start inducting WW's at some point.

On who if they retired today should be in the Hall

HW - Mir, Nog, likely Lesnar
LHW - Griffin, Henderson, Jackson, Evans, Shogun, Jones, maybe Bonnar
MW - Silva, Franklin, Bisping, Sonnnen, Belfort, Wandy
WW - GSP, Diaz, Koscheck, Sanchez, Fitch
LW - Edgar, Florian, Sherk, Gomi
FW - Aldo
BW - Cruz, Faber, Torres

Retired Guys that should/could be in the Hall in descending order from most likely should be in it to less likely but could be inducted.

1. Frank Shamrock
2. Don Frye
3. Rich Franklin
4. Bas Rutten
5. Pat Miletich
6. Evan Tanner
7. Chris Lytle
8. Kazushi Sakuraba
9. Igor Vovchanchyn (as a Pride guy)
10. Matt Serra

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Originally Posted by John8204 (Post 1577816)

Fedor was a PRIDE guy. Beat Nog. Does he deserve to be in the HOF?

UFC HOF is idiotic. They need a separate entity for a universal HOF.