Matt dug deep for this win. He clearly lost the first round, lost a closer second round where he had "won" most of the time, and dominated the third round.
I must say that the only real problem that Matt had was not necessarily dealing with B.J.'s skill, but rather B.J.'s flexibility. The normal tricks that would work to get a guy on his back, just didn't work with B.J.'s legs being so flexible. That is a good training item for B.J., but I wouldn't necessarily attibute that to B.J.'s fighting "skill" level (which is also very high).
Is flexibility a "skill"? If it is then Hughes' strength is also a "skill".
Anyone who doesn't believe you can seperate a rib just from your movement during rolling simply don't know what they are talking about. I've broken a rib, and another time seperated a rib (which was worse) over the years while passing OTHER people's guards.
When you're rolling hard and rolling with strong people, shit happens. I think Matt qualifies as strong.
BJ's back taking and sub attempt was awesome but that hardly makes for outclassing someone. That was only about a 1/4 of the action in the first 2 rounds if i recall. While he did show great td defense aswell, Hughes still got him down and its still just defense. Being on defense doesnt mean you are outclassing the other necessarily either.
"FACT" is rudeboy, you should just accept that BJ lost and hope that BJ can come back and work his way back up. His 2 title shots in the UFC, while he performed great once and not great enough in the other, didnt exactly come off red hot streaks remember.
Come on, don't tell me you weren't thinking, "Wow, this is deja vous!" when BJ took his back and Matt started grabbing BJ's foot (exactly like the last time,) and BJ put his left arm around Matt's neck...it looked exactly like the first fight, even the camera angle.
A ral Champ like Franklin never quits, he beat on the crow for three rounds with a shattered hand and a hurt foot but he never quit so if BJ was hurt so what a champion doesnt quit
ttt for gutsy performance by BJ Penn. Torn rib cartilage? I believe it that shit is no joke, right after the initial injury it's a sharp pain but a minute or two later you're completely immobilized. BJ was probably also gassed from the submission attempts in rd 2, but something must've happend where he couldn't even hold Hughes in his guard. And to put BJ in a crucifix??!! Just a freak accident but congrats to Hughes for capitalizing when he smelled blood.
hughes, being PREPARED and WILLING (i mean before the match took place.... he was prepared and willing to go the distance, penn was not) took penn to a bad place and won. Fact.
i don't dispute a rib separation hurts... i've had them and yes, you're toast if it happens, but so the fuck what... not being in shape and relying on your attributes is not what being a champ is about...
i want penn to succeed, but he makes it harder to appreciate his efforts, or lack of.
because he's a warrior and didn't want to give any notice that he was injured, the guy didnt even tell his corner. It was plainly obvious though something was wrong and Hughes capitalized, good job for him.
Had absolutely no hip movement while Matt was taking side control, just laid there, I dont care how gassed BJ is but nobody just passes guard that easily, especially BJ's guard. Could've tapped but didnt huge props.
"Out classed" how is some one out classed when the other person wasn't in shape enough to finish or go on when injured. This is MMA not baseball if you get injured you work through it our you lose plain and simple. Don't make exscusses for a warrior like BJ he knowes the risks when he gets in the ring and he knowes how a fight can change with one simple move or mistake. He fought well and lost leave it at that.
BJ can beat Diego. BJ is a great fighter, but should go down 2 155. He's fucking himself up by not cutting the weight. Matt beat him fair and square. U can't discredit his performance because of the injury.