Prime BJ Penn or Prime Khabib, a better fighter and career?

[ThunderStruck]

It can be...

But not when it comes to someone like BJ Penn.. Prime Penn is and was as advertised one of the very best to ever compete in combat sports...dude won Mundials as an American....he went into brazils game and won there world championships...with like 3 years of training lol...it took 18 years for another american to win in his division..

This isnt some classic MMA never dies ...type thing..

We are talking proven legend and pioneer

Penn won one world championship, you can remove that S at the end of the word. And he won it in a weak year at this weight class.

BJJ accolades has no bearing on who is the greatest mma lw. Thats a different sport.

At LW, they fought pretty similar competition. BJ lost a few though while Khabib is undefeated.

 

[TrueFightFan]

Before passing judgement people need to realize before the second Frankie fight BJ was 15 - 6 - 1. His losses were as follows..

Jens Pulver - Could of went either way..

Machida - Heavyweight..

GSP 1 - Razor close split decision. Could of went either way

Matt Hughes 2 - Legit loss

GSP 2 - Legit loss

Edgar 1 - BJ should of got the decision imo..

So had it not been for controversial or coin flip decisions BJ could have easily been 18 - 3 - 1 with his only loses being to two WW's (Prime GSP and Prime Hughes) and a HW Machida. In hindsight he probably should've retiried after the 2nd Frankie fight..

BJ's fights at other weight classes has no bearing on who the greatest LW of all time is.

It's also fucking hilarious you think BJ had a better career than Khabib. If you want to say he's more legendary or whatever, go for it, but he absolutely did not have a better career than Khabib.

I never said that. I said a better FIGHTER and career. Hard to argue against 29-0. Should be 28-1 but oh well.

Prime BJ Penn would lose against Khabib.
Khabib is too big and powerful.
It's unquestionable that Khabib is the superior fighter, despite BJ having a good run.

Khabib is a much better fighter

BJ Penn was fun to watch his career, but khabib is far better than BJ Penn.

And I really dont like comparing fighter from different era because mma has involved so much in short time. Give Bj penn credit willing to fight whenever and who.

Penn was the original Two-Weight Division champ and walked around at 160. For me, he is #2 on the All-Time GOAT list behind only Fedor.

Khabin weighs 200+ pounds but so many argue that he is the/a lightweight GOAT, to which I have to ask, has he ever fought as a LW? I know he has weighed 155lbs, for a few minutes, a day before a fight but I think, to be considered a goat, you have to have taken all challenges available to you in your prime. Khabib didn't.

 

[pick999]

The bj that fought gsp 1 easily beats khabib

 

[Mammothman]

16-14 vs 29-0

Do the math

 

[tehMoose]

BJ has better resume

 

[TrueFightFan]

16-14 vs 29-0

Do the math

MMA math, really? Look at those 29 opponents, also, who did Khabib outpoint to win his "title"?

 

[TrueFightFan]

Penn won one world championship, you can remove that S at the end of the word. And he won it in a weak year at this weight class.

BJJ accolades has no bearing on who is the greatest mma lw. Thats a different sport.

At LW, they fought pretty similar competition. BJ lost a few though while Khabib is undefeated.

You went full retard, you never go full retard....fucking moronical post....you fuckin' supa-lost motherfucker!

Penn is the first two division champion in UFC history. He won the Welterweight belt, retired and came back and won the lightweight belt, never losing in between championships, so he was an unofficial "double champ."

He fought anyone and everyone, unlike Khabib who would hospitalize himself constantly to fight smaller men.

Khabib also outpounted Iaquinta to win gold. Iaquinta wasn't even ranked and was a replacement fighter. So even in that regard, Khabib never legitimately won the belt .

 

[DestinedAussie]

BJ just cause he wasn't afraid to test himself

BJ was certainly a different breed of fighter and did things Khabib would never dare to try and do it. His a great because of what he did at a time when MMA/UFC was transforming into a mainstream sport. However there is no doubt that Khabib's career will be viewed as better simply due to the 29-0 even if the bulk of the 29 weren't against high level fighters (while Penn was fighting the best at the time over and over). To be fair in Khabib's title defenses he never really got close to being in any real danger of losing.

 

[JKS]

You went full retard, you never go full retard....fucking moronical post....you fuckin' supa-lost motherfucker!

Penn is the first two division champion in UFC history. He won the Welterweight belt, retired and came back and won the lightweight belt, never losing in between championships, so he was an unofficial "double champ."

He fought anyone and everyone, unlike Khabib who would hospitalize himself constantly to fight smaller men.

Khabib also outpounted Iaquinta to win gold. Iaquinta wasn't even ranked and was a replacement fighter. So even in that regard, Khabib never legitimately won the belt .

I wouldn't call anyone a retard or a moron, you're post of so full of errors.

BJ left the UFC and got stripped of the WW belt, even if you're considering this to be lineal, he lost to GSP and then he lost to Hughes in a title fight. And this was all before he even went back to LW I am pretty sure.

Second, no he was not the first two division champ in the UFC. That would be Randy Couture who won the HW belt in the early 2000s and then the LHW belt in 03 or 04, a few years before BJ won the LW belt. In fact, I am pretty sure Randy was two division champ before BJ won his first belt.

And just a few more things......Khabib beat Iaquinta for the belt and he was in fact ranked, he was #10 or 11 I belive, Al was in the rankings for 2 years prior to the Khabib fight.

You're coming up with some minor reasons to bump up Penn like fighting bigger guys, while it gives respect, it's hardly anything important enough to be a goat in a division. And Khabib was not fighting smaller guys, pretty much everyone he fought was his size and some even bigger. Nice try buddy.

 

[gono btw]

B.J. Penn
• Serra, Fitch - Close fights

Khabib Nurmagomedov
Tibau - Close fight

The Serra fight was definitely not on the same level, tho... Hardly anythin´ potentially controversial in that fight...

 

[Topher]

Prime BJ fought way more and experimented outside his comfort zone.

Prime Khabib started at RDA and peaked (became much better post Johnson) 2014-2020 = his prime and when he was facing elite fighters. But he only fights 1 time a year (or less) there 5/7 years. He was inactive af at an elite level.

BJ was always active at an elite level and mixed it up going outside his comfort zone and took much larger risks.

BJ didn’t have 20 fights padding his record. Most of his fights were tough highly ranked fighters at the time.

I’m not saying BJ is better just apples and oranges. Khabibs path at the elite level is like 2/3 title fights he was absent for over a year and against interim champs. The guys activity is horrendous at the top and the complete opposite of BJ who seemed to want to fight anybody.

 

[ThunderStruck]

You went full retard, you never go full retard....fucking moronical post....you fuckin' supa-lost motherfucker!

Penn is the first two division champion in UFC history. He won the Welterweight belt, retired and came back and won the lightweight belt, never losing in between championships, so he was an unofficial "double champ."

He fought anyone and everyone, unlike Khabib who would hospitalize himself constantly to fight smaller men.

Khabib also outpounted Iaquinta to win gold. Iaquinta wasn't even ranked and was a replacement fighter. So even in that regard, Khabib never legitimately won the belt .

You went full retard. Going up and fighting everyone (losing to most) has nothing to do with being the greatest LW.

 

[omawho402]

To BJ's credit he avenged the Pulver loss, eventually was 2/3 and got the better of the Hughes trilogy, and cleared the air against uno via KO.

Idk if prime BJ is better than Khabib or had a better career, but he is DEFINITELY more legendary and DEFINITELY challenged himself more. Khabib seemed obsessed with protecting his perfect record (nothing wrong with that, to each their own).

 

[true_fan]

U f guys keep bringing the Tibau fight when a guy was so enhanced please shut the f up

 

[TrueFightFan]

You went full retard. Going up and fighting everyone (losing to most) has nothing to do with being the greatest LW.

I like yours and Khabib's style...only fight guys that you are sure that you can beat. Don't ever test yourself and make sure that you cut from 200+lbs to guarantee that everyone you are fighting is smaller than you, even if it means kidney failure and ER visits...yeah, real tough guys...

 

[HHJ]

Bj was a huge overachiever early in his career. So much so that when he had a hard time in there he didn't handle it well. That never really changed.

 

[seandamon211]

I would rather watch prime Bj penn fight over prime khabib any day of the week.

 

[Glass Heart]

It's also fucking hilarious you think BJ had a better career than Khabib. If you want to say he's more legendary or whatever, go for it, but he absolutely did not have a better career than Khabib.

This is a really stupid sentiment, and arguably, Khabib has done nothing but fight undersized nobodies for his entire career.

You didn't want BJ in his prime, did you?

 

[TrueFightFan]

I wouldn't call anyone a retard or a moron, you're post of so full of errors.

BJ left the UFC and got stripped of the WW belt, even if you're considering this to be lineal, he lost to GSP and then he lost to Hughes in a title fight. And this was all before he even went back to LW I am pretty sure.

Second, no he was not the first two division champ in the UFC. That would be Randy Couture who won the HW belt in the early 2000s and then the LHW belt in 03 or 04, a few years before BJ won the LW belt. In fact, I am pretty sure Randy was two division champ before BJ won his first belt.

And just a few more things......Khabib beat Iaquinta for the belt and he was in fact ranked, he was #10 or 11 I belive, Al was in the rankings for 2 years prior to the Khabib fight.

You're coming up with some minor reasons to bump up Penn like fighting bigger guys, while it gives respect, it's hardly anything important enough to be a goat in a division. And Khabib was not fighting smaller guys, pretty much everyone he fought was his size and some even bigger. Nice try buddy.

"so he was an unofficial "double champ.""

You missed the "unofficial" part...he BEAT Caol Uno for the LW title then went on to whip Hughes. The UFC and White have always hated Penn, not a company man, hence the UFC's and Dana's silence on Greasegate.

Couture was the first to win belts in two divisions but he went down in weight.

"I'm the champ, I beat the #11th ranked guy!!!"....man, that shit doesn't even work in Super Nintendo's Punch out...come on.

Lastly, if you almost die everytime you have to cut weight to make LW....hey, pussy, you ain't a lightweight!

 

[Noraaq]

There were only about 10 LWs rostered when Penn was UFC champ. Their LW division sucked.

Penn lost to Edgar 3x in his prime. It’s not even close.