Just felt like sharing on here tonight some of my library of interviews - take care and good night!
Original link
http://www.bjpenn.com/profiles/blogs/exclusive-dennis-hallman-jon
“BJ Penn is a multiple division champion so he deserves the shot. After knocking out Hughes so fast I wouldn’t see a problem if the UFC wanted to give him a rematch with GSP right away.
He has earned the right to fight anyone, anywhere and I don’t think he has to climb the rankings of anything.
Losing his 155 pound title wasn’t anything. He is still considered by everyone the number 1 contender at 155. For him to go in and knock out a hall of famer in basically one exchange that earns him the chance to fight the number 2 guy in the weight class.
As far as the fight with Fitch, it’s the same thing I always say about BJ fights. It depends on which BJ shows up. If it’s the BJ Penn that all the fans love shows up then Fitch is going to have a really rough night. It’s always about what BJ does it’s not really about what his opponent does.
That’s kind of my way of putting the fight. If BJ puts every ounce of his energy into beating Jon Fitch than I don’t think Jon Fitch has much of a chance.”
Seriously?
The truth is generally free.
" It’s always about what BJ does it’s not really about what his opponent does."
Seems like a pretty disrespectful thing to say. So tired of everyone and their "that fighter didn't win himself the fight, BJ just lost himself the fight" bullshit. There ARE people who are better at MMA than BJ, even when the best BJ of all time shows up.
If BJ has an answer for the clinch or off his back then he can win. If he doesnt he's going to lose.
If BJ can keep it standing and out of the clinch he's going to kill fitch with his speed alone but that's a big if.
If he were training with big tough wrestlers like Chael Sonnen he'd be better prepared but he's fucking around with Matt Hughes. Jon Fitch is way stronger and better than hughes.
Micheal Jordan had Phil Jackson. BJ penn has fucking troy mendaloniz. come on...
A talent like BJ is wasted with these yahoos. BJ doesnt have a "Phil Jackson".
If BJ thinks its all about him and doesn't matter what fitch does then I think my bet is safe with Fitch.
MMALOGIC -
If he were training with big tough wrestlers like Chael Sonnen he'd be better prepared but he's fucking around with Matt Hughes. Jon Fitch is way stronger and better than hughes.
Hahaha what? You know training isn't fighting right? Hughes hate him or love him has a wealth of technical knowledge. You don't accomplish what Hughes did by not knowing a thing or two about fighting. Anyone would benefit from training with him.
rumble_fish -MMALOGIC -
If he were training with big tough wrestlers like Chael Sonnen he'd be better prepared but he's fucking around with Matt Hughes. Jon Fitch is way stronger and better than hughes.
Hahaha what? You know training isn't fighting right? Hughes hate him or love him has a wealth of technical knowledge. You don't accomplish what Hughes did by not knowing a thing or two about fighting. Anyone would benefit from training with him.
His knowledge wont mean shit when you have an elite wrestler who's 25lbs heavier than you on fight day holding you against the cage.
Hughes was there for maybe a week to give BJ a different look. BJ has Jake Clark training his wrestling. Most of you noobs probably don't know, but he's one of the best in the country and has represented the US at the World's several times.
The reason people say it depends on which BJ shows up is because when we see BJ look even half decent in a fight, he's usually dominating a fight. It's the times when he looks uninspired, gets tired and fades in a fight where you question what happened.
GriffinQ - " It’s always about what BJ does it’s not really about what his opponent does."
Seems like a pretty disrespectful thing to say. So tired of everyone and their "that fighter didn't win himself the fight, BJ just lost himself the fight" bullshit. There ARE people who are better at MMA than BJ, even when the best BJ of all time shows up.
Truth hurts?
If you feel like the best BJ penn showed up against Frankie Edgar well I would say you're a little confused. Its not like BJ fought his best and Frankie beat him. BJ didn't even train did he?
piratepirate -According to BJ, he did train. So you're calling him a liar? And I'm actually not talking about the Frankie fight(either of them....remember there were 2? he lost both)...I'm actually talking about the first Pulver fight and the GSP fight.GriffinQ - " It’s always about what BJ does it’s not really about what his opponent does."
Seems like a pretty disrespectful thing to say. So tired of everyone and their "that fighter didn't win himself the fight, BJ just lost himself the fight" bullshit. There ARE people who are better at MMA than BJ, even when the best BJ of all time shows up.
Truth hurts?
If you feel like the best BJ penn showed up against Frankie Edgar well I would say you're a little confused. Its not like BJ fought his best and Frankie beat him. BJ didn't even train did he?
I'm sure people will come in and say that GSP beat BJ either because A) he cheated, or B) he was just to big and strong for him, or C) both. Fun Fact: Being big and strong is a skill in and of itself, if BJ is such a gifted person, then why wasn't he doing the same S & C routines that GSP was? Why wasn't he becoming the wrestler that GSP has becomes? Simple Answer: Because despite what BJ huggers will say, there are fighters better than BJ, and GSP is one of them.
Cue responses about BJ not training for the GSP fight either, thus it's not an accurate respresentation of his abilities...
lol
He trained terrible for the Edgar re-match. He only did sprints and no distance work of any sorts. That's why he got tired after the second round pretty much and faded as the fight went on.
I like that he finally has a reputable fight oriented strength and conditioning coach in Rob Garcia now. Hopefully, those problems are a thing of the past now. BJ has always switched coaches in that area with varying results. He had a bunch of nobodies doing his S&C who had him on what looked like a bodybuilder program for the GSP rematch and BJ apparently got sick and was over-trained with the Marinovic's for the first Edgar fight.
stillmatic - He trained terrible for the Edgar re-match. He only did sprints and no distance work of any sorts. That's why he got tired after the second round pretty much and faded as the fight went on.
I like that he finally has a reputable fight oriented strength and conditioning coach in Rob Garcia now. Hopefully, those problems are a thing of the past now. BJ has always switched coaches in that area with varying results. He had a bunch of nobodies doing his S&C who had him on what looked like a bodybuilder program for the GSP rematch and BJ apparently got sick and was over-trained with the Marinovic's for the first Edgar fight.
Frankie beat him in the first round of that fight too....
And so when the Marinovic's were with him for the Diego and Florian fights, they could do no wrong. But when he lost the Edgar fight, it's their fault and they overtrained him? Seems pretty faulty to put his failures on someone else
This is exactly what I was talking about. Some people straight up cannot admit that there are people out there who are better than Baby Jay.
GriffinQ -Yeah, in a way I am.piratepirate -According to BJ, he did train. So you're calling him a liar? And I'm actually not talking about the Frankie fight(either of them....remember there were 2? he lost both)...I'm actually talking about the first Pulver fight and the GSP fight.GriffinQ - " It’s always about what BJ does it’s not really about what his opponent does."
Seems like a pretty disrespectful thing to say. So tired of everyone and their "that fighter didn't win himself the fight, BJ just lost himself the fight" bullshit. There ARE people who are better at MMA than BJ, even when the best BJ of all time shows up.
Truth hurts?
If you feel like the best BJ penn showed up against Frankie Edgar well I would say you're a little confused. Its not like BJ fought his best and Frankie beat him. BJ didn't even train did he?
I'm sure people will come in and say that GSP beat BJ either because A) he cheated, or B) he was just to big and strong for him, or C) both. Fun Fact: Being big and strong is a skill in and of itself, if BJ is such a gifted person, then why wasn't he doing the same S & C routines that GSP was? Why wasn't he becoming the wrestler that GSP has becomes? Simple Answer: Because despite what BJ huggers will say, there are fighters better than BJ, and GSP is one of them.
Cue responses about BJ not training for the GSP fight either, thus it's not an accurate respresentation of his abilities...
What fighter (Before a fight) is going to admit he didn't train?
But how odd is it that he looked like shit, he didn't bring in anybody to train with, fired his strength and conditioning guys, and rumors of him not being at the gym much were flying around?
What do you think is more likely?
BJ trained alone, with no S&C and just looked bad physically for no reason?
Or that he didn't really work? Come on.
We can argue all day about the greasegate thing, after BJ works Fitch, we'll see what happens
GriffinQ -He didn' use Marinovic for the Frankie fights.stillmatic - He trained terrible for the Edgar re-match. He only did sprints and no distance work of any sorts. That's why he got tired after the second round pretty much and faded as the fight went on.
I like that he finally has a reputable fight oriented strength and conditioning coach in Rob Garcia now. Hopefully, those problems are a thing of the past now. BJ has always switched coaches in that area with varying results. He had a bunch of nobodies doing his S&C who had him on what looked like a bodybuilder program for the GSP rematch and BJ apparently got sick and was over-trained with the Marinovic's for the first Edgar fight.
Frankie beat him in the first round of that fight too....
And so when the Marinovic's were with him for the Diego and Florian fights, they could do no wrong. But when he lost the Edgar fight, it's their fault and they overtrained him? Seems pretty faulty to put his failures on someone else
This is exactly what I was talking about. Some people straight up cannot admit that there are people out there who are better than Baby Jay.
piratepirate -GriffinQ -He didn' use Marinovic for the Frankie fights.stillmatic - He trained terrible for the Edgar re-match. He only did sprints and no distance work of any sorts. That's why he got tired after the second round pretty much and faded as the fight went on.
I like that he finally has a reputable fight oriented strength and conditioning coach in Rob Garcia now. Hopefully, those problems are a thing of the past now. BJ has always switched coaches in that area with varying results. He had a bunch of nobodies doing his S&C who had him on what looked like a bodybuilder program for the GSP rematch and BJ apparently got sick and was over-trained with the Marinovic's for the first Edgar fight.
Frankie beat him in the first round of that fight too....
And so when the Marinovic's were with him for the Diego and Florian fights, they could do no wrong. But when he lost the Edgar fight, it's their fault and they overtrained him? Seems pretty faulty to put his failures on someone else
This is exactly what I was talking about. Some people straight up cannot admit that there are people out there who are better than Baby Jay.
The bolded text= contradiction
The first round was at least close in the second fight. Striking was about even and BJ almost had a couple sweeps, it was just the wrestling where you would give Edgar the edge and I don't think BJ really defended the takedowns much, because he wanted to work BJJ off his back.
I mean I shouldn't have to even say this, but his body looked drastically different in his fights against Diego and Florian than it did for the 2 Edgar fights. I'm not saying it's all the Marinovic's fault, but if the fighter is getting sick from doing your S&C program, the coach should take some of the blame. The fact is the Marinovic's haven't trained another fighter before, it's possible that the training they did for BJ worked in the short term, but wasn't good for him in the long run.
piratepirate -Ah so if BJ beats Fitch, it discredits GSP's win over BJ and just proves that he was greasing? Because Fitch and GSP are the exact same fighter? sighGriffinQ -Yeah, in a way I am.piratepirate -According to BJ, he did train. So you're calling him a liar? And I'm actually not talking about the Frankie fight(either of them....remember there were 2? he lost both)...I'm actually talking about the first Pulver fight and the GSP fight.GriffinQ - " It’s always about what BJ does it’s not really about what his opponent does."
Seems like a pretty disrespectful thing to say. So tired of everyone and their "that fighter didn't win himself the fight, BJ just lost himself the fight" bullshit. There ARE people who are better at MMA than BJ, even when the best BJ of all time shows up.
Truth hurts?
If you feel like the best BJ penn showed up against Frankie Edgar well I would say you're a little confused. Its not like BJ fought his best and Frankie beat him. BJ didn't even train did he?
I'm sure people will come in and say that GSP beat BJ either because A) he cheated, or B) he was just to big and strong for him, or C) both. Fun Fact: Being big and strong is a skill in and of itself, if BJ is such a gifted person, then why wasn't he doing the same S & C routines that GSP was? Why wasn't he becoming the wrestler that GSP has becomes? Simple Answer: Because despite what BJ huggers will say, there are fighters better than BJ, and GSP is one of them.
Cue responses about BJ not training for the GSP fight either, thus it's not an accurate respresentation of his abilities...
What fighter (Before a fight) is going to admit he didn't train?
But how odd is it that he looked like shit, he didn't bring in anybody to train with, fired his strength and conditioning guys, and rumors of him not being at the gym much were flying around?
What do you think is more likely?
BJ trained alone, with no S&C and just looked bad physically for no reason?
Or that he didn't really work? Come on.
We can argue all day about the greasegate thing, after BJ works Fitch, we'll see what happens
stillmatic - The first round was at least close in the second fight. Striking was about even and BJ almost had a couple sweeps, it was just the wrestling where you would give Edgar the edge and I don't think BJ really defended the takedowns much, because he wanted to work BJJ off his back.Why would BJ want to work BJJ off his back? How much success has BJ honestly had off his back against people? His BJJ shines in his top game, not in subs off his back.
I mean I shouldn't have to even say this, but his body looked drastically different in his fights against Diego and Florian than it did for the 2 Edgar fights. I'm not saying it's all the Marinovic's fault, but if the fighter is getting sick from doing your S&C program, the coach should take some of the blame. The fact is the Marinovic's haven't trained another fighter before, it's possible that the training they did for BJ worked in the short term, but wasn't good for him in the long run.