Friday, January 30, 2009

BJ Penn -- GSP

Georges St. Pierre (left) vs. B.J. Penn

The biggest fight in MMA history will take place tomorrow, between BJ Penn and Georges St. Pierre. Penn, the 155 champ, is moving up to take on GSP at 170. The weigh-ins are today, but by fight time GSP will be around 180+ and Penn will be 170.

GSP is probably the best pure athlete in MMA. The strongest part of his game is his wrestling, which he has developed over only the last few years. He trains with the Canadian Olympic team and outwrestled former NCAA champions/All-Americans in his last fights. Penn is a freakishly gifted jiujitsu player (world championship 3.5 years after starting to train; his nickname is "the prodigy") and striker.

Visit the UFC site to see the weigh-ins today.

Here is some prefight hype footage of the Penn and GSP training camps. More training footage of GSP. A Penn highlight video.

14 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:01 PM

    I thought the Fedor Cro-cop fight was the biggest.

    I found out Fedor doesn't lift weights. That seals it for me. Ultimate Figting is fake.

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  2. What's with the troll infestation we've had lately? I may have to switch to some other comment system...

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  3. Anonymous12:13 PM

    Trolls are another form of entertainment. In real life, they're the equivalent of the village idiot who likes to rain on everybody's parade largely to satisfy their own fragile egos. Since they have very few to no achievements of their own to speak of, they prefer to rack up "achievements" in the form of trying to destroy other people and bring everybody down with them. It's a classic case of individuals with envy run amok, and with them projecting it onto everybody else.

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  4. Anonymous1:55 PM

    Troll?

    If you had ever done any competitive wrestling you would know the importance of strength. You would know that weight training is an absolute sine qua non.

    Royce Gracie 175 lb beat Dan Severn 250 lb of muscle and an experienced wrestler. After his loss Severn became a pro-wrestler. An easy transition.

    The Gracies started the MMA business (with help). Why do you suppose a Gracie won?

    Now, "the greatest MMA fighter ever", Fedor Emilianenko is a mere 6' and looks like your chubby neighbor.

    BTW, the second Ali Liston fight was fake too.

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  5. Anonymous2:19 PM

    Quote from another disbeliever:

    "MMA: Fake or for real?
    In general, I haven't seen anything that convinces me that MMA is real. I've also seen people killed by injuries that seem like they would be less dangerous than some MMA moves.

    Back in the 40's and 50's, pro wrestlers maintained a culture where they would never reveal that their matches were fixed -- they portrayed a culture of competition, and their admiring fans firmly believed that they were trying to beat each other nigh unto death. I can't imagine that they perceived their wrestlers any differently than we perceive our mixed martial artists."

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  6. Anonymous5:54 PM

    Why not just prune false/trollish comments, rather than pre-moderate?

    The moderation delay tends to kill the life out of the comment section, which have a precious 3-4 days before scrolling off the edge of the earth.

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  7. Anonymous12:59 PM

    To err is human, to troll divine.

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  8. Anonymous10:05 PM

    Considering he is Chinese, Steve's head is remarkably small ( = low IQ). Steve is a troll.

    MMA, Pride, UFC etc. are all FAKE. A large brain is required to see this however.

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  9. Anonymous11:51 AM

    Ah, it's the troll. I see my remarks have ilicited a standard response. That of restricting information. In other words, rather than embracing intellectual discourse as science would, you would rather control the flow of information when someone questions your perspective. It's easy to hide behind a blog rather than address the notion that your perspective on the financial crisis and comparison to physics is a complete fallacy.

    There is no scientific basis for your opinion and when someone calls you out, you retreat by restricing access to your blog. Similarly with your ridiculous babble about intellectual superiority.

    In Texas we call that Big Hat, No Cattle. I'm done with you. Be sure you delete this post so you aren't too embarrassed.

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  10. Anonymous2:14 PM

    Albert,

    It seems you have a guilty conscience, as nobody in this thread has labelled you a troll.

    Problem is, your sometimes good arguments always come wrapped in some form of personal insult or provocation directed at the blogowner, in a subconscious game of oneupsmanship.

    Not that I care. But read your own comments and notice the pattern.

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  11. There's a controversy brewing on the forums.

    GSP's corner man, either Jackson or some other guy wiped Vaseline on GSP's shoulders and upper back and chest.

    There's a video floating around where Dan goes up to Rashad and Louiseau and says "GSP is in a lot of shit. NSAC just caught his corner man smearing Vaseline all over George"

    I don't think it would have made a huge difference but Penn's use of the Rubber guard would have been harder to use.

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  12. Sorry, last post should have read:

    "There's a video floating around where Dana goes up to Rashad and Louiseau "

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  13. I think GSP was too much for Penn. Penn needs to up his game and training if he wants to challenge top welterweights who have 15-20 lbs of muscle on him.

    But, I was very suspicious about how Penn couldn't hold the rubber guard on GSP. In the last fight he almost caught GSP in an omoplata.

    Vaseline is pretty tricky to detect -- you rub it on, it gets absorbed by the skin and when the fighter starts to sweat it comes back out. They could have put it on GSP before he left the locker room.

    Let's see what the athletic commission finds out...

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  14. Anonymous12:22 AM

    I think Penn and GSP prefer K-Y jelly to vaseline.

    ReplyDelete