UFC
B.J. Penn to be inducted into "Modern Era" wing of UFC Hall of Fame this July
May 23, 2015 - 8:45:32 PM B.J. Penn to be inducted into "Modern Era" wing of UFC Hall of Fame this July

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC announced the final inductee for the 2015 class of the UFC Hall of Fame on Saturday night, revealing during the Fox Sports 1 prelims broadcast for UFC 187 that B.J. Penn is going into the "Modern Era" wing.

The two-division UFC Champion - one of only two fighters to hold that distinction - joins Forrest Griffin as the only members of that Modern wing.

"The Prodigy" made his UFC debut in May of 2001, and fought for the UFC Lightweight Title twice in his first two years in the organization. He would lose to Jens Pulver and fight to a draw with Caol Uno in those two fights, which led to the lightweight division's exodus for a couple of years.

Penn returned to the UFC as a welterweight 11 months after the Uno fight, upsetting Matt Hughes to capture the UFC Welterweight Championship. He was stripped of that title after a contract dispute led him to bounce around some higher weight classes with K-1, but he'd return in 2006 and remain with the organization for the remainder of his career.

He would capture the UFC Lightweight Title in 2008, defending it three times while taking a Welterweight Title super fight with Georges St-Pierre for good measure. Though the last several years of his career failed to live up to his early run, he remains the biggest star in UFC lightweight history.

[B.J. Penn art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]