Matt Hughes VS B.J. Penn. Just the thought of it makes my heart race. They are arguably the two greatest fighters in the world at 170 pounds.
But in fact, the UFC's 170 pound division is one of the best divisions in mixed martial arts. Add these names: Georges St. Pierre--the man who was supposed to be fighting Hughes this weekend before he suffered an injury during training--, Diego "The Nightmare" Sanchez, Karo "The Heat" Parisyan, and Josh Koscheck and you have a group of excellent, maybe even great, fighters the likes of which the world hasn't seen since the days of Marvin Hagler, Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, and Wilfred Benitez. Like those great boxers, when these guys face one another their fights will be legendary.
For instance, B.J. Penn's fight against Georges St. Pierre was as close as they come. He busted up St. Pierre's face something awful. But St. Pierre's indomitable will saw him through to a razor-thin victory. No one can forget the match-up between Diego Sanchez and Karo Parisyan. Images of Karo Judo-tossing Diego onto his head or of Diego busting Karo's tooth out of his mouth with a knee strike will remain etched in memory for years to come. Matt Hughes getting smacked by a Georges St. Pierre spinning back kick and Hughes coming back to win with a last second arm bar in the first round will also live on in memory.
Bottom line is it's a dynamite division with a load of great match-ups to be made.
With that out of the way, let's take a closer look at Hughes VS Penn.
Matt Hughes has won 39 fights and lost 4. One of those losses was to B.J. Penn.
That's right. They've fought before. Let's remember when. The night was January 31, 2004. Almost 3 years ago. Matt Hughes was the dominant UFC champion, riding a 13 fight win streak that dated back to February 8th, 2001. B.J. Penn hadn't even fought 13 times. He sported a mere 6 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw record. Plus, he was moving up in weight to face the juggernaught known as Matt Hughes.
Things looked bleak for the Hawaiian. Of course, he shocked the whole world by choking out Hughes in the first round. Afterwards, Penn took the UFC belt and headed to Japan to fight for rival organization: K1. The UFC didn't take kindly to this and stripped him of the title.
Hughes fought for and won the vacant title. He hasn't lost since.
For his part, B.J. Penn went on to face some great opposition. He choked out world class striker, Duane Ludwig, in the first round, then he won a unanimous decision against Rodrigo Gracie. After that, he felt nigh-invincible and took that invincibility up to 205 pounds to face the undefeated Japanese star, Ryoto Machida. Keep this in mind, B.J. Penn began his career at lightweight--that's 155 pounds. Yet here he was taking on an undefeated 205 pounder, a man who knocked out present UFC Middleweight champion, Rich Franklin.
Penn lost a unanimous decision. All the same, his stock did not take a hit since he performed well against a man who should have beaten him soundly. He rebounded by beating up yet another Gracie: Renzo Gracie.
That's when the UFC resigned B.J. Penn. His first fight back in the cage? Against none other than Georges St. Pierre, a young phenom who had steam rolled everyone put in front of him not named Matt Hughes. We already know that Pierre won a split decision to earn a 2nd crack at champion Matt Hughes. Fate would have its say, however, when St. Pierre injured himself, giving Penn his chance to win back the title he never lost.
If you give any credence to the concept of the "linear" championship, then B.J. Penn was still the UFC Welterweight champion until his loss to Georges St. Pierre. Let me explain:
Penn defeated Hughes. Though Penn later lost to Ryoto Machida, that fight was at 205 and would not have been considered a title fight even if it were held in the UFC. The first fighter to defeat him at 170 was St. Pierre.
Not Matt Hughes.
That makes St. Pierre the "linear" champion, since he beat the man who beat the man.
Funny, though, since Matt Hughes tapped out St. Pierre almost a year and a half before St. Pierre squeeked by B.J. Penn.
Either way, Hughes has racked up 5 straight wins since losing to Penn and against some excellent competition (Renato Verissimo, Georges St. Pierre, Frank Trigg--in one of the greatest fights in mma history--Joe Riggs and Hall of Famer, Royce Gracie). He certainly won't take B.J. lightly this time around (he has admitted to looking past Penn before their first encounter). He knows exactly how good B.J. is.
He'll take B.J. to the canvas and try to work his fiercesome ground-n-pound. B.J. will try to wrap him up and submit him just like he did the first time. Something tells me, B.J. will also look to work his stand up, particularly his punching, which worked so well against St. Pierre.
This could go either way. I can see Hughes dominating from the top position, holding Penn down and winning a unanimous decision.
I can see Penn catching Hughes in another submission to win back his title.
I can see Hughes dropping enough viscious elbows to prompt a referee stoppage.
I can see Penn putting his knee through Hughes's chin, just like he did again Din Thomas. Or knocking him unconscious with a right hand like he did against Caol Uno.
I don't see Hughes winning by submission. I don't see Hughes winning by knockout, unless he slams him out like he slammed out Carlos Newton.
Well, I didn't come here to hedge. It's time to make my prediction:
B.J. Penn by 1st round TKO.
