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Dec 18, 2009 - 12:49:50 PM By Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor
Note: I would have made this a longer blog, but I'm too busy celebrating that amazing Colts win last night. It almost didn't happen, but 14-0 is a tremendous feat. They only have the Jets and Bills left, here's hoping they do it, if for no other reason than to shut up the '72 Dolphins for good.
B.J. Penn is one of the best fighters in the world. He was already considered as such previously, but his beatdown of Diego Sanchez reconfirmed it. To me, the top 5 fighters in the world are BJ Penn, Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, and Miguel Torres. I know Torres just lost, but this is MMA, everyone loses. Brian Bowles caught Torres with a surprise counter-punch that lead to his victory. I take nothing away from what Bowles did, he earned that win. If they fight again, it's more likely that Torres would win, but Bowles might pull the upset again. Regardless, I don't think Lyoto Machida has done enough to wedge out Torres on that list.
I think Lightweight is the best weight class for B.J. in the UFC. The reason I think that is BJ has to cut a lot more weight to make the 155 pound weight limit for that division. B.J.'s problem has always been his conditioning. However, in his last 2 fights, B.J. has shown much improved conditioning. I'm not really sure where UFC should go with B.J.'s next opponent. You could make a case for Frank Edgar getting the title shot. You could give the winner of the upcoming Gray Maynard vs. Nate Diaz fight the title shot. The problem is that I think B.J. would beat the hell out of any of those three. This is the same problem that the UFC is having with Anderson Silva. There's a lot of good Lightweights, but none stand out as being able to beat B.J. consistently. Sure, any one of them could beat B.J. on a given night, but it's more likely that B.J. will beat them down and then tap them out. Can anyone beat B.J., with the way he's fighting now?
Who would you all like to see BJ Penn fight next? Post in the Comments section below, or e-mail me at hydenfrank@gmail.com
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