BJ Penn fought to a draw against Caol Uno in the UFC 41 Lightweight Tournament.
96 Facts About BJ Penn
2.
In 2015, BJ Penn was made the inaugural inductee into the Modern-era wing of the UFC Hall of Fame.
3.
BJ Penn was considered one of the top pound-for-pound mixed martial artists in the world early in his career and holds victories over opponents such as Din Thomas, Caol Uno, Paul Creighton, and Matt Serra.
4.
BJ Penn won the Rumble on the Rock Lightweight Championship in K-1.
5.
BJ Penn submitted long-reigning then-champion Matt Hughes to capture the UFC Welterweight Championship.
6.
BJ Penn made a record three subsequent title defenses before losing his title to Frankie Edgar.
7.
BJ Penn announced his candidacy for governor of Hawaii in the 2022 Hawaii gubernatorial election in 2021.
8.
BJ Penn is regarded as one of the best competitors in the UFC's history.
9.
BJ Penn was born in Hawaii to Jay Dee BJ Penn, who is of Irish American descent, and Lorraine Shin, who is of Korean and Hawaiian descent.
10.
At the age of 17, BJ Penn began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after being introduced to it by his neighbor, Tom Callos.
11.
In 1997 BJ Penn began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Ralph Gracie, eventually earning his purple belt from Gracie.
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In 1999, at the age of 20, BJ Penn finished 3rd, earning himself a bronze medal in the brown belt division, losing only to Fernando "Terere" Augusto, and in 1998, earned a silver medal, placing 2nd in the blue belt division.
13.
BJ Penn is thought to have earned the fastest legitimate black belt of all active Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners.
14.
BJ Penn made his mixed martial arts debut with the company on May 24,2001, with a win over Joey Gilbert at UFC 31.
15.
BJ Penn then demonstrated strong striking skills, knocking out lightweights Din Thomas and Caol Uno before suffering a decision loss in a championship fight against UFC Lightweight Champion, Jens Pulver.
16.
In 2003, after Pulver left the UFC and relinquished his title, a tournament to crown a new champion flopped when BJ Penn fought Uno to a draw in the finals at UFC 41, a failure which caused the UFC to later suspend its lightweight division.
17.
BJ Penn bounced back later in the year with a victory over future PRIDE Lightweight Champion Takanori Gomi to earn his first MMA championship, the Rumble on the Rock Lightweight Championship, in K-1 Fighting Network's Rumble on the Rock, an MMA organization promoted by BJ Penn's brother, and Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent company of the largest kickboxing organization, K-1.
18.
BJ Penn received his first UFC Championship in 2004 at UFC 46.
19.
BJ Penn jumped up in weight classes to challenge the five-time defending UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes to fill a title contention slot in a division where Hughes had already defeated all the available opposition.
20.
BJ Penn signed to fight for the Japanese Fighting and Entertainment Group's K-1 promotion citing a lack of challenging fights left for him in the UFC.
21.
The UFC promptly stripped him of the welterweight title, claiming BJ Penn breached his contract and that the signing constituted as him refusing to defend his title.
22.
BJ Penn filed a suit against the UFC and publicized his side of the conflict, claiming his UFC contract had already expired.
23.
BJ Penn filed a motion to stop the UFC from awarding a new welterweight title, but that motion was denied.
24.
BJ Penn won by decision, extending his winning streak to four fights.
25.
On March 26,2005, at the inaugural event of FEG's new MMA promotion Hero's, BJ Penn faced future UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida, losing by unanimous decision at K-1 Hero's 1.
26.
Later that year at K-1 World Grand Prix Hawaii, BJ Penn returned to middleweight to face Pride Fighting Championship veteran Renzo Gracie, which he won by unanimous decision.
27.
BJ Penn was visibly different in the third round, appearing exhausted and missing punches he was landing earlier.
28.
BJ Penn was a coach for The Ultimate Fighter 5, which debuted on April 5,2007.
29.
BJ Penn won with a rear naked choke in the second round after controlling Pulver from the mount and then taking Pulver's back.
30.
On July 7,2007, during the post-fight press conference of UFC 73, UFC president Dana White announced that BJ Penn would stay at lightweight to fight current UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk.
31.
The subsequent final decision by the California State Athletic Commission, which did not overturn Sherk's suspension, led to the title being stripped from Sherk and the BJ Penn-Stevenson fight being upgraded to a full title bout, with the winner facing Sherk in their first defense.
32.
BJ Penn knocked Stevenson down seconds into the first round with a right uppercut, then took Stevenson down, delivering a well placed elbow from the top position that inflicted a serious cut near Stevenson's hairline.
33.
BJ Penn worked to back mount and defeated him by rear naked choke at 4:02 of the second round to win the Lightweight Championship.
34.
BJ Penn celebrated the win by licking Joe Stevenson's blood off of his gloves.
35.
The win for BJ Penn was awarded Beatdown of the Year by Sherdog for 2008.
36.
On May 24,2008, at UFC 84 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, BJ Penn fought former champion Sean Sherk in his first title defense bout.
37.
BJ Penn landed jabs several times, utilizing his reach advantage over Sherk.
38.
Sherk went down and BJ Penn continued with strikes, but the round ended before the referee stopped the fight.
39.
However, Sherk was unable to continue and BJ Penn was declared the victor by TKO.
40.
Later, BJ Penn told Fighters Club TV that he would face the winner of the UFC 87 Welterweight title fight between Georges St-Pierre and Jon Fitch, which St-Pierre ended up winning by unanimous decision.
41.
BJ Penn challenged Georges St-Pierre for St-Pierre's welterweight title on January 31,2009, the night before the Super Bowl.
42.
The first round of the fight was somewhat even, with BJ Penn exercising elusive head movement, fast hands and good take-down defense, thwarting all of St-Pierre's take-down attempts while both exchanged punches.
43.
St-Pierre scored his first take-down of the night midway through the second round, and by the end of the round BJ Penn was visibly tired.
44.
BJ Penn later sent a formal request to the NSAC, asking them to investigate.
45.
BJ Penn went on record as accepting the offer for a re-match.
46.
BJ Penn began negotiations to fight Kenny Florian in the summer of 2009.
47.
BJ Penn requested more time off after his fight with GSP.
48.
BJ Penn defended his title against Florian on August 8,2009, at UFC 101.
49.
On his feet, BJ Penn avoided virtually any damage, constantly stuffing or evading any attempts of a left high kick, punches, or elbows from Florian when the two departed from the clinch.
50.
BJ Penn fought Diego Sanchez for the UFC Lightweight Championship on December 12,2009, at UFC 107.
51.
BJ Penn negated virtually any offense from the contender, exercising good footwork and elusive head movement whilst remaining flawless in his takedown defense on 27 attempts from Sanchez.
52.
BJ Penn stalked his opponent for large periods of the match and stunned Sanchez early, dropping him; following up with multiple clean shots, which Sanchez showed good durability in weathering.
53.
BJ Penn, showing good conditioning for the duration of the bout, continued to stuff all takedowns, punches and left high kicks from Sanchez and dominated with aggressive bursts of striking throughout.
54.
BJ Penn hurt Sanchez several times, until finally rocking him with a flurry in the final round, swarming to finish the combo with a right high kick.
55.
The performance marked the third time BJ Penn had successfully finished a fight in defending his UFC Lightweight Championship, setting a new record of lightweight title defenses, by breaking the previous record of two defenses by Jens Pulver.
56.
BJ Penn fought Matt Hughes at UFC 123 in a rubber match after their previous two fights at UFC 46 and UFC 63.
57.
BJ Penn defeated Hughes in 21 seconds of the first round by knockout after flooring Hughes with a right hand and following with additional strikes on the mat.
58.
BJ Penn earned knockout of the night honors for his performance.
59.
BJ Penn was expected to face Carlos Condit on October 29,2011, at UFC 137.
60.
BJ Penn relocated his camp to Southern California in an effort to prepare for the bout.
61.
Dana White stated that BJ Penn will fight Nick Diaz in the main event at UFC 137 after GSP pulled out due to knee injury.
62.
BJ Penn lost via unanimous decision after winning the first round by crisp boxing as well as mixing in a takedown against the former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion, but was unable to mount any significant offense or defense against Diaz's stand-up attack in the remaining two rounds.
63.
BJ Penn turned down a fight with the reigning Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, Gilbert Melendez, and that BJ Penn wants to continue at 170 pounds "whenever he is ready".
64.
BJ Penn deserves to be in the UFC Hall of Fame, stating that he was a pioneer for the lightweight division, at a time when many believed that there couldn't be any stars at 155 pounds.
65.
BJ Penn retire from mixed martial arts, although BJ Penn has hinted a desire to return to the UFC's lightweight division.
66.
BJ Penn returned to Nova Uniao under coach Andre Pederneiras in preparation for his fight camp against Edgar; training alongside former UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barao and UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo.
67.
BJ Penn lost the one sided bout by TKO in the third round.
68.
BJ Penn built that weight class and he was responsible for helping build the UFC.
69.
In January 2016, after an 18-month hiatus, the 37 year old BJ Penn announced his intentions to return to active competition with plans to continue in the UFC's featherweight division.
70.
BJ Penn was briefly expected to return in April 2016 at UFC 197.
71.
However, BJ Penn's return was delayed after an investigation into criminal allegations made against him was launched.
72.
In turn, BJ Penn was expected to face Dennis Siver on June 4,2016, at UFC 199.
73.
BJ Penn was expected to face Ricardo Lamas on October 15,2016, at UFC Fight Night 97.
74.
BJ Penn faced Yair Rodriguez in the main event on January 15,2017, at UFC Fight Night 103.
75.
BJ Penn lost the one-sided fight via TKO in the second round.
76.
In preparation for the fight against Hall, BJ Penn returned to train at Nova Uniao.
77.
BJ Penn lost the fight via a heel hook submission in the first round.
78.
On July 26,2019, news surfaced that BJ Penn was expected to face Nik Lentz in a grudge match, at a UFC event to be determined.
79.
BJ Penn has stated that he identifies strongly with his Korean roots and has traveled to South Korea to hold seminars.
80.
BJ Penn said that he gets his hot temper from his Korean side which helps him use this energy in his fights.
81.
BJ Penn was the subject of a Paternity Lawsuit in relation to a daughter, approximately a year after the girl's birth.
82.
BJ Penn lost the Republican primary, ending as the runner-up to winner Duke Aiona.
83.
In January 2015, BJ Penn was arrested in Kihei, Hawaii and charged with assault after a brawl outside of a bar.
84.
In June 2019, an intoxicated BJ Penn fought a bouncer outside of a Honolulu strip club.
85.
On February 7,2020, BJ Penn was involved in a single-car accident in his home town of Hilo, Hawaii.
86.
BJ Penn was the only occupant of the vehicle, and he was transported to a nearby hospital by ambulance.
87.
BJ Penn was investigated by the Hilo Police Department for DUI and his blood was drawn at the scene, but no charges have been filed.
88.
On January 23,2021, BJ Penn was arrested in Honokaa, Hawaii, and was charged with DUI.
89.
BJ Penn was later released from jail hours after his arrest pending an investigation.
90.
Video footage recorded from a bystander shows a handcuffed, drunk, and belligerent BJ Penn yelling expletives at the police and the man recording while being assisted into an unmarked police vehicle.
91.
BJ Penn was regarded as one of the most controversial and outspoken players in the history of mixed martial arts whose influence was considered instrumental in popularizing the UFC around the world in the 2000s and 2010s.
92.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship's inaugural signature gym located in Honolulu, Hawaii, 'UFC Gym BJ Penn' is named in Penn's honor.
93.
BJ Penn is featured in the UFC "Evolution" pay-per-view introduction.
94.
BJ Penn is widely considered one of the greatest lightweight competitors in the sport's history, and as one of the greatest Welterweight competitors as well due to his performances against Georges St-Pierre and Matt Hughes.
95.
BJ Penn was simultaneously ranked number one in both of these divisions following his back-to-back submission victories over Takanori Gomi and Matt Hughes, where he is the only fighter to hold such an honor.
96.
Former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, has said on numerous occasions that he believes BJ Penn to be the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the history of the sport.