BJ Penn

(The Prodigy) 

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BJ Penn

Jay Dee Penn was born on December 12, 1978 in Hilo, Hawaii. He was nicknamed "B.J." (Baby Jay) because he is the youngest male of his siblings, all of whom are named "Jay". BJ Penn began Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training in 1996 at the age of 17 with neighbor Tom Callos. A year later he relocated to Mountain View, CA and started training under Ralph Gracie. After being awarded his black belt in 2000 by Andre Pederneiras of Nova Uniao, he became the first American-born winner of the World Brazilian Jiu Jitsu championship (Mundial) black belt category, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Penn began his MMA career in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2001 at UFC 31 where he stopped Joey Gilbert at 4:58. He then went on to knock out lightweights Din Thomas and Caol Uno at UFCs 32 and 34 respectively. Penn's first taste of defeat was to UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver by majority decision at UFC 35. In 2003, Pulver left the UFC, relinquishing his title in the process. A tournament was held to crown a new champion where BJ Penn, now known as "The Prodigy," fought Cal Uno to a draw in the finals at UFC 41. The UFC went on to suspend the lightweight title. Later that the year, BJ scored an impressive victory over Takanori Gomi, Japan's number-one ranked lightweight fighter at Rumble on the Rock, an event promoted by Penn. As impressive as the win against Gomi was, it was at UFC 46 where Penn had his finest moment. The Prodijy jumped up in weight and took on five-time welterweight champion Matt Hughes. Matt had already defeated all of the welterweight competition and was highly favored to win. BJ submitted him four minutes into the first round with a rear naked choke. The UFC stripped Penn of the welterweight title when signed to fight in the K-1 organization. BJ Penn fought his first K-1 bout at welterweight where he defeated Duane Ludwig in under five minutes. He moved up in weight for his next fight and in a middleweight bout handed Rodrigo Gracie his first loss. Penn won by decision. His next loss came in 2005, at the K-1 Hero's 1 event in Japan. Ryoto Machida beat him by decision. Later that year at K-1 World Grand Prix Hawaii, Penn returned to middleweight to face Renzo Gracie and won a competitive and close unanimous decision that Penn may have pulled out in the last seconds of the bout. Penn returned to the UFC on March 4th for UFC 58 in a losing effort to Georges St. Pierre in a split decision.   BJ Penn MMA History May, 1997 Enters first tournament in Bakersfield, CA and wins both his weight and the open weight class. June, 1997 Enters the Joe Moreira tournament as a blue belt winning his weight class. June, 1997 Wins submission grappling tournament 1997 Enters Brasileiro and places 4th in his weight class, blue belt category 1997 Continues to enter tournaments upon return from Brazil placing first consistently 1997 Receives blue belt from Ralph Gracie 1998 Silver medal at Brazilian Mundials competition in his weight division; receives purple belt upon return 1999 Bronze medal at Brazilian Mundials in heavier weight class as a newly promoted Nova Uniao brown belt. 1999 Gold medal, Copa Pacific Tournament in Los Angeles 1999 Receives Black belt from Andre Pederneiras just 3 weeks before the 2000 Mundials 1999 Joins Nova Uniao Competition Team (reserved for the four top team competitors) 2000 First non-Brazilian to win gold medal in black belt division of the Mundial World Championships held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 2001 Enters UFC 31 preliminary match and beats Joey Gilbert by referee stoppage at 4:58 2001 Beats Din Thomas by knockout in 2:17 at UFC 32 2001 Beats Caol Uno by knockout in :11 at UFC 34 2002 Loss to Jens Pulver by majority decision at UFC 35 2002 Beats Paul Creighton by TKO at UFC 37 2002 Beats Matt Serra by unanimous decision at UFC 39 2003 Draws to Caol Uno at UFC 41 2003 Beats Takanori Gomi by rear naked choke at Rumble on the Rock 4 making BJ the World Lightweight Champion 2004 Beats 5 time-defending Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes by rear naked choke at UFC 46 making BJ the UFC Welterweight Champion. 2004 Beats Duane Ludwig by arm triangle at K-1 MMa Romanex 2004 Beats Rodrigo Gracie by decision at Rumble on the Rock 2005 Loss to Ryoto Machida by unanimous decision at K-1 Hero's 1 2005 Beats Renzo Gracie by decision at K1 World Grand Prix in Hawaii 2006 Loss to Georges St. Pierre by split decision at UFC 58: USA vs. Canada   Ray Mardo is a former freestyle wrestler. The Austin Film Festival honored writer now spends his days as the webmaster of several websites about ultimate fighting championship and mixed martial arts, extreme championship wrestling, world championship wrestling, who is the coolest guy on the planet, and DJ training. BJ Penn Official Site BJ Penn Stats BJ Penn UFC BJ Penn Wikipedia