B.J. Penn has finally met his match. “The Prodigy” has showed his age 31 heavily as of late in back-to-back losses to Frankie Edgar. That of which my friends is no fluke. Their first bout in Abu Dhabi was said by many to have been a fluke win for Edgar, yet, the 2nd time around, when he was even more dominant, people praised the smaller, faster Toms River native, recognizing him as champion. Now though, not just champion but possibly the best 155-pound fighter of the new generation. While Penn is the greatest 155-pounder of all-time, Edgar is now the best at this time and has proved himself fully.
To understand the events that have transpired over the past few months, we must revert back to August 8, 2009 at UFC 101: Declaration. B.J. Penn “finishes” Kenny “KenFlo” Florian via Rear Naked Choke in a dominating victory. Then, only a few months later, Penn annihilated Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez, opening a cut over his eye that still has yet to be sealed.
After these two decimations, Penn appeared to be the cream of the 155 crop once and for all. Then, along came Frankie Edgar. The adroit Edgar has suddenly become B.J.’s kryptonite, and new king of 155, thus leaving the aging Penn in a predicament. What exactly does he have left in the tank at this point? Better yet, if he wishes to return to elite status, what path does he take this time? Who’s next for “The Prodigy?”
More often than not a fighter of Penn’s background and caliber would make the adjustments necessary in a rematch, but this time that simply was not the case. Penn made the same mistakes in the encore, even worsening his plan. Frankie Edgar’s plan on the other hand was quite simple: run Penn ragged around the octagon for 25 minutes and use speed to keep him guessing. This worked once again, it’s no secret that Penn’s sub-par cardio has been a mounting problem for him throughout his career. Penn is now 2-5 in fights ending in decision, a fitting record considering his cardio.
Many claimed that a motivated B.J. Penn is the very best B.J. Penn, well apparently that is not true. Because quite frankly, we, along with B.J. never know which fighter will come to the arena on a given night.
