Amadi's Take
AMADI: Retired or no, B.J. Penn's legacy contains unanswered questions
Nov 2, 2011 - 4:35:04 PM AMADI: Retired or no, B.J. Penn's legacy contains unanswered questions

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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

Despite conflicting reports on whether or not B.J. Penn will retire following his crushing defeat at the hands of Nick Diaz this past Saturday night, it definitely seems as though we're looking at the latter portion of the Hawaiian's career.

If the “Prodigy” decides he's finally licked enough blood off of his gloves, then he and his fans can take solace in the fact that he'll be remembered as one of the more physically gifted and technically sound competitors to ever try his hand at mixed martial arts.

Aside from his legendary skill set, B.J. Penn will probably be best known for being one of two men to capture two UFC Championships, in two separate weight classes. To this point, the only other man to capture UFC gold in two different weight classes is UFC hall of famer Randy Couture, which puts Penn in great company.

However, what's so fascinating about that particular piece of UFC trivia is how night and day the expectations were for B.J. Penn and Randy Couture at the start of their careers, despite the fact that they'll likely be remembered the exact same way.

Randy Couture started off his mixed martial arts career when he was 33 years old, during a time where fighters understood the benefits of other disciplines but were nowhere near what we consider to be well rounded today. In addition to being at an age and skill disadvantage in many cases, Couture was often at a size disadvantage as well.

Once Couture began to acquire more of the necessary skills to be a successful heavyweight fighter, the division changed. Each time Couture captured heavyweight gold in his career, he encountered bigger, better versions of himself that forced him to take refuge at light heavyweight.

Between his age and the sport evolving around him at such a rapid pace, Couture's story will probably be remembered as one of the all-time great underdog stories in sports.

Conversely, B.J. Penn started off his career at a spry 22. Penn came into the sport a slick boxer and a rock fisted puncher, with Brazilian jiu-jitsu world championship credentials behind him. The prodigious Hawaiian was so impressive early on that many felt he was destined to go down as the greatest lightweight of all time.

Unfortunately, that never took place. Penn was only content to shine in the lightweight division intermittently throughout his career, while often moonlighting as a largely unsuccessful welterweight on the side.

Randy Couture retired with a career record of 19-11, which isn't far off from B.J. Penn's current 16-8-2 record. Considering where they started and the tools they each had at their disposal, is this an admirable comparison for B.J. Penn?

As much excitement as B.J. Penn created by competing in multiple weight classes throughout his career, one can't help but wonder what kind of legacy "The Prodigy" could have carved out for himself had he spent more time plying his trade at 155 pounds.

In 26 career fights, B.J. Penn has only competed in what most consider his natural weight class 15 times. At lightweight Penn holds a record of 11-3-1, which without proper context hardly screams "greatest lightweight of all time." His UFC record at welterweight is an even less impressive looking 2-4-1, with his only victories coming over Matt Hughes.

So, now I pose the question: Did B.J. Penn do himself a disservice by competing out of his weight class as much as he did, or is the fact that Penn dared to be great what's really important? Do his attempts at greatness at multiple classes hold more weight than long term dominance in one division?

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