Dana White: "I Wouldn't Have Been Shocked if BJ Won Both Titles And Retired"
by Kelvin Hunt on Feb 4, 2009 10:51 PM EST
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Yeah. I wouldn't have been shocked if B.J. had won both titles and then retired. That wouldn't have shocked me. But after the way that went down, I can't see him retiring.
Dana White speaking to Michael David Smith. I find it pretty hard to believe that Dana White would allow BJ Penn the opportunity to fight for both titles with knowledge that Penn would retire if he won. In fact, I don't think he had a clue that Penn was thinking about doing that. That was one of the main problems I had with making that fight for the welterweight title. It would have caused a major problem within the two divisions had Penn won at UFC 94. Then if he had retired? Problems I'll tell you, problems. I do agree with that White that Penn will not walk away on such a sour note.
How selfish is BJ Penn for even thinking like this though? I mean it's not like he's fought the best of the best at lightweight or cleaned out that division. The same could be said for him as a welterweight. Believe me when I tell you that this loss will affect him if he fights again. Kenny Florian has a GOOD chance of upsetting BJ Penn. You heard it here first, and in fact I've been saying it since November.
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This is precisely why I hate BJ. The most selfish asshole to ever grace the sport.
I’m so glad he got tooled by GSP.
by cauliflower_ears on Feb 4, 2009 11:17 PM EST reply actions
He clearly thinks hes bigger than the sport. Definitely bigger than the UFC. Dana gave him this fight to keep him entertained.
He talks about his legacy when at the end of the day his MMA record stands at 13-5-1. Okay we get it. He is supremely talented and his record doesn’t do his career justice but at the end of the day, theres a lot more he needs to achieve to realize his potential.
Its one thing to retire with the belt after holding it for as long as say Matt Hughes did. Even he didn’t retire. This on the other hand just lacks class.
by cauliflower_ears on Feb 5, 2009 1:49 AM EST reply actions
BJ retiring wouldn’t surprise me either. He might have the biggest fanbase in MMA. I don’t know of any other fighter that sells as many of their own t-shirts as BJ does. He knows that regardless of whether or not he cleans out the LW division, he will always have their undying loyalty. Just check all of the comments on the message boards since Saturday. There are way too many of his fans making excuses after he got his ass handed to him. Even Dana White says that BJ surrounds himself with ‘yes’ men.
yeah its unbelievable. His fans are so disillusion that every BJ loss to them is an an unfortunate set of circumstances rather than BJ being outclassed. I strongly believe they think BJ has never really lost a fight.
BJ surrounds himself with yes men…. of course he does! He lives on an island where he is pretty much God to anyone who follows mma. He is used to the world revolving around him.
by cauliflower_ears on Feb 5, 2009 5:30 AM EST up reply actions
BJ Penn cleaned out the Lightweight and Welterweight divisions? What??? Do you follow MMA or you just become a fan last night? At LW he beat Jens Pulver who really is too small for LW especially against BJ who is a large LW. He then fought Joe Stevenson and won(anyone really surprised?) to win the title and then Sherk to defend it. So three fights and that constitutes a cleaned out division? You have to go back to 2002 to find another LW fight of his. As for Welterweight… what the hell are you talking about?? BJ fought twice for the LW title and lost in early 2004 so he moved up to Welterweight and fought Matt Hughes for the title and won. One fight at WW, one title fight and won. I was impressed at the time but I would also have said if they fought 10 times Hughes would likely have won 5. After winning the WW title BJ ran off to Japan because he didn’t want to defend it. He didn’t even defend it once! You know what they say about champions, they aren’t a true champion until they defend. BJ came back in 2006 to fight the #1 contender GSP and lost, GSP was hurt in training so BJ gets yet another buy at the title and loses against Hughes even though before the fight he was claiming that he felt he was still champion because he never lost it in the ring. What a joke!! BJ left the LW belt undefended for the last 8 months so he could try to gain glory by beating GSP. BJ Penn just wants to win and retire to a beach and a 24 hour buffet. BJ keeps getting the easy road, he should never have gotten this chance to fight GSP because he lost his last two in row at WW. Cleaned out the WW division? WTF! His record in the UFC at Welterweight is 1-3-0 How can you clean out a division with only one win back in 2004? GSP cleaned out the Welterweight division, he’s fought the best of the best and it’s a lot deeper than the Lightweight division! If BJ fights KenFlo and wins he will retire, if he loses he will retire, he has shown he doesn’t want to rack up wins like a real fighter like Chuck Liddell, he just wants to win then quit before he loses. It’s alot harder to stay on top than get on top. I’m not a BJ Penn hater I used to be a big fan but these are the facts and there is not much to respect here.
You must have mis-read the statement...as I said what you said with less words
I mean it’s not like he’s fought the best of the best at lightweight or cleaned out that division. The same could be said for him as a welterweight.
http://www.mmaforreal.com
Sorry Kelvin, yes, I apparently mis-read, I’ve been so used to reading reading ridiculous uninformed statements about BJ I reacted before re-reading. My bad. Bj was given a chance for greatness back in 2004 when they let him move up to WW to fight Hughes, he took full advantage and won, great, but he shouldn’t have got 3 more kicks at the WW can without earning them. BJ has a large number of fans and I just don’t get it. I suspect most of them joined his bandwagon in the last year but don’t know the whole story, regardless I’m glad I mis-read and told it here.
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