Recently in BJ Penn Category

Brad Souders, of Extreme Sportsplex in Martinsburg, W. Va., sent me a link to this site, grapplearts.com, for an in-depth look at the de la Riva guard:

Ricardo de la Riva is a slight unassuming man with a gentle smile. Talking to him it is hard to imagine that this man is on the cutting edge of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Voted as one of the top five technical fighters of all times by his peers, every BJJ school on the planet is teaching his famous de la Riva guard.

Nobody could have imagined the impact this skinny 15 year old kid would have on the jiu-jitsu world, when he walked into one of Carlson Gracie's affiliate schools in Copacabana and started training under the then brown belt Marcus Soares. When Marcus closed his gym, de la Riva started training at Carlson Gracie's main academy; de la Riva had previously impressed Carlson by beating Carlson's nephew in an inter-academy tournament.

To see more about de la Riva's guard, click here.

from mmajunkie.com:
MAIN CARD

Champ B.J. Penn (155) vs. Kenny Florian (155)
Champ Anderson Silva (205) vs. Forrest Griffin (205)
Ricardo Almeida (185) vs. Kendall Grove (185.5)
Josh Neer (155.5) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (154.5)
Johny Hendricks (171) vs. Amir Sadollah (166.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD

Shane Nelson (156) vs. Aaron Riley (154)
John Howard (169.5) vs. Tamdan McCrory (170)
Thales Leites (185) vs. Alessio Sakara (185.5)
Dan Cramer (169.5) vs. Matthew Riddle (170)
George Roop (154) vs. George Sotiropoulos (155)
Jesse Lennox (171) vs. Danillo Villefort (170.25)

by Thomas Gerbasi, ufc.com:
UFC is coming to Philadelphia for the first time on Saturday, August 8th, and its bringing the big guns for UFC 101, as BJ Penn defends his UFC lightweight crown for the second time against number one contender Kenny Florian, and UFC middleweight boss Anderson Silva jumps back to the 205-pound weight class to take on former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin.

Tickets for UFC 101, which will take place at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center, will go on sale shortly. Stay tuned for further details.

Two more fights have been added to UFC 101, which is all but confirmed for Philadelphia on August 8. They are:

Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks

John Howard vs. Tamdan McCrory

Here's what mmajunkie has so far for the card:

Location: Philadelphia
Venue: Wachovia Center
Broadcast: Pay per view

Champ B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian (for UFC lightweight title)*
Forrest Griffin vs. Thiago Silva
Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellgrino*
Matt Hamill vs. Brandon Vera*
Rousimar Palhares vs. Alessio Sakara*
Johny Hendricks vs. Amir Sadollah*
John Howard vs. Tamdan McCrory*
Dan Cramer vs. Matthew Riddle*
Jesse Lennox vs. Danillo Villefort*
* - Not officially announced

UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn is set to defend his lightweight title against number one contender Kenny Florian. The newly agreed upon match is set to Headline UFC 101 in Philadelphia, PA on August 8th 2009.

The Challenger, Kenny "Kenflo" Florian, is currently riding a six fight win streak inside the octagon. Most recently dispatching Joe Stevenson via RNC in round 1 at UFC 91. Florian has made it no secret that he desires his second shot at the lightweight title. Most recently stating on ESPNS MMA Live,

"At the end of the day, I just want this fight to be signed. Let's get an event, let's get a date, and let's make it happen."

The Champion, BJ "The Prodigy" Penn, has not been down to lightweight to defend his title since UFC 84, in May of 2008, when he beat Sean Sherk via TKO at the end of the third round. When I asked BJ about the upcoming bout he simply said,

"I look forward to the challenge."

According to our sources here within Team Penn, Florian has already signed the bout agreement for this fight. As for BJ, we received the bout agreement this afternoon and plan on making this fight happen.

from themmafiend.com:
Over on The Underground UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta was answering some questions about the UFC's plans for later this year, and he gave us some interesting information.

1- UFC 101 will be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 8th with BJ Penn vs Kenny Florian possible for the Main Event.
2- UFC 102 will be in Portland, Oregon on August 29th at the Rose Garden with Randy Couture vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira as the main event.

3- They are looking into holding an event on St. Paddy's next year possibly in Dublin, Ireland or Boston, Massachusetts.

4- Says France is a long term investment, but that they have already seen success with their first show on RTL9 (which broadcasts out of Belgium into 13M French homes) being the second highest rated show for the night in the country. Says they love Cheick Kongo over there.

5- Says the UFC is working on getting into Brazil, but it looks like they will make it into Australia first.

6- The ramp will not be making a comeback to the UFC.

7- Has never met Fedor, but he'd like to. Says Fedor is intriguing to say the least, but has been built up way too much, and that he needs to come to the UFC and fight Lesnar, Mir, Carwin etc for us to truly know the answer.

8- Says Detroit wants the UFC. They are trying to work out a date with Motor City/MGM.

9- Japan is impossible to deal with. UFC in Japan will probably never happen.

from mmaweekly.com:
B.J. Penn is uncertain of what the future holds for his complaint against Georges St. Pierre. He wasn't sure what to expect of his plea to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and after an inconclusive meeting with regulatory body, he is weighing his options.

"Honestly, I didn't know what to expect," he told MMAWeekly.com after the Tuesday meeting. "We didn't even know if we were going to get a chance to talk, but honestly I don't even know exactly what happened yet. I've still got to sit down with the lawyers and see. I don't even know how to judge this or gauge this. I'm a fighter, not a litigator."

The NSAC took no formal action against the subject of Penn's complaint, St. Pierre and cornermen Phil Nurse and Greg Jackson, but Penn felt the meeting might be a positive step in the right direction, even if it wasn't exactly what he had hoped for.

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by Loretta Hunt, sherdog.com:
Kenny Florian knew that trash talk would be par for the course gearing up towards a fight with UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn. However, he didn't quite expect the kick-off he got on Tuesday.

Penn, who's been nursing his wounds since his four-round loss to welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94 on Jan. 31, expressed surprise that Florian planned to train with the French Canadian fighter, claiming that Florian had previously contacted Penn to warn him of St. Pierre's proclivity to "grease up" before fights.

Penn dropped the bombshell statement during his first sit-down video interview since UFC 94 on BJPenn.com.

"That is kind of surprising to me because Kenny is actually the guy who tipped us off that GSP was going to be greasing," said Penn. "He actually e-mailed me and tipped me off."

February 7, 2009 by Bryan Levick, fiveouncesofpain:

Fresh off the heels of controversy surrounding the alleged application of lubrication to the body of Georges St. Pierre during this past Saturday's UFC 94 main event against B.J. Penn, the UFC has ruled that cornermen will no longer be permitted to handle Vaseline in between rounds.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com Managing Editor David Andrest first heard talk of the possible change during yesterday's UFC Fight Night 17 weigh-ins and the news has been confirmed by a statement attributed to renowned cutman Jacob "Stitch" Duran. The rule change is expected to be effective immediately.

Under the new rules only cutmen who are independent of both corners will be allowed to apply Vaseline to the fighter's faces in between rounds. Duran did not specify whether or not these rules will apply at all UFC events or just the events that take place in Nevada. However, going by statements made by UFC President Dana White this past week would lead one to assume that these rule changes would be practiced no matter where the UFC holds their events.

The UFC has implemented the new set of rules designed to avoid any more scandals like the one that has been brewing as a result of the St. Pierre vs. Penn fiasco. The controversy stemmed from an formal letter from Penn's attorney addressed to the Nevada State Athletic Commission requesting that St. Pierre's corner be invesigated. The Penn camp wants an investigation regarding whether St. Pierre trainers Phil Nurse and Greg Jackson improperly applied Vaseline to the fighter's back, shoulders, and chest, possibly giving St. Pierre an unfair competitive advantage.

Although NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer has stated that the excess Vaseline was wiped off of St. Pierre after having been called to his attention, Penn still has until Monday to file a formal complaint.

from bjpenn.com:
For the past several days I have been reading statements made by St. Pierre and Greg Jackson about our fight on January 31. St. Pierre claims that he is "not a cheater" and that he and Greg Jackson will have "no problem with a rematch in the summer of 2009." To the untrained eye the grease might not look like much, but every grappler knows the effect that it has. Being able to apply your submissions and sweeps or just being able to hold on to your opponent to defend yourself from being hit is absolutely critical! There is a reason why you are not allowed to put grease anywhere on your body except for the area around your eyes. Because of the grease applied to St.Pierre's Body the Nevada State Athletic Commission's executive director, Keith Kizer has stated that the Penn-St. Pierre fight "definitely wasn't fair". I hereby accept George St. Pierre and Greg Jackson's challenge for a fight in the summer 2009. Lets call Dana now and set it up.

- BJ Penn

mma fanhouse has the interview with the UFC president:
"In no way shape or form do I think Georges St. Pierre went out to cheat. I think his cornerman f**ked up. That's what I think. Do I think it had a huge impact on the fight? No, I don't. But it's illegal. You cannot do it. And I think the cornerman's in trouble. That's what I think."

by Dann Stupp, mmajunkie.com, on Feb 04, 2009 at 5:55 pm ET
B.J. Penn has contacted the Nevada State Athletic Commission and formally requested an investigation into his recent UFC 94 main-event loss to UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.

Keith Kizer, the executive director for the Nevada State Athletic Commission, today passed along a letter in which Penn asks the NSAC to investigate whether St. Pierre's corner used a banned substance (the petroleum jelly, Vaseline) on the fighter's body.

The letter, penned by Penn's lawyer, Raffi A. Nahabedian, states the notice is not a formal complaint. Additionally, Kizer today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the NSAC does not consider it one.

from sportsillustrated:
After reportedly deciding to shelve a complaint against UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, it appears B.J. Penn and his representatives have had a change of heart.

Penn's trainer, Rudy Valentino, told SI.com by text message that Penn has decided to move forth in filing a formal complaint with the Nevada State Athletic Commission alleging Georges St. Pierre's corner knowingly and illegally used Vaseline on his body to gain an unfair advantage Saturday night.

"Lawyers for B.J. are writting (sic) a complaint with the commission," Valentino said. "I just spoke to J.D. and B.J. a few minutes ago. They feel they have ations (sic)."

J.D. Penn is the lightweight champion's brother and manager. As of late Sunday, he and the fighter decided not to file, leaving some to think both camps have discussed and resolved the issue.

In speaking with SI.com's Josh Gross after UFC 94, Valentino said he believed Penn could have a change of heart given the circumstances of the situation.

Tom and I were at Hooters of York last night for UFC 94 - St-Pierre vs. Penn 2 - the place was packed and the fights were amazing. We filmed a video there, interviewing several of York County's stand-outs in the MMA community, which should be up later today.

People say the reason they love this sport is that anything can happen - and that definitely played out at UFC 94. Most fans like to have a clear-cut win - a knock-out or submission - but sometimes, a decision win can be satisfying, as you see two fighters wage a see-saw battle, taking each other to the limit. That was the case at this event - out of 10 fights, eight went the distance. Only Machida vs. Silva and St-Pierre vs. Penn ended in KO and TKO, respectively.

After an intense stare-down at the weigh-ins, Clay Guida squeaked out a split-decision victory over Nate Diaz:

My apolgies to Steve Pierce, world's biggest Nate Diaz fan. Diaz lost a close one, Steve. 209 for life, baby.

Karo Parisyan versus Dong Hyun Kim was another split-decision win, this one going to "The Heat." Good to see the Armenian back to his winning ways and he even pulled out a nice judo throw.

Jon Jones won his second straight fight in the UFC as he climbs the ladder to the top of the LHW division. The 21-year-old, nicknamed "Bones," dominated veteran Stephan Bonnar with some nice throws, clinchwork and striking. It was a deicive win over an established veteran, so we'll see who they give Jones next, maybe someone of a higher caliber.

In a battle of the undefeated, where "someone's 0's gotta go!" - God, I hate that phrase - Lyoto Machida knocked out Thiago Silva with a leaping punch while Silva was on his back. Just as I thought, Silva chased Machida, although Machida showed some initiative in engaging, and then put Silva out with that one punch. Who knew The Dragon had knock-out power? I would say it goes a long way in silencing the critics who say Machida is not exciting or fights to go to decision - it was a quick win and the only KO of the night. There's been talk that Dana White will give the next LHW title shot to Rampage Jackson - I say Lyoto deserves it. He's still undefeated, he knocked out a top 10 fighhter in Silva, and champ Rashad Evans is undefeated as well. Sign that fight now, Dana.

Georges St-Pierre's signature phrase, "He can't 'andle my riddum," defintely came into play during his fight with Penn. He truly made Penn look like an amateur, snapping his head back with jabs, then working takedowns and dominating ground control. Once on the ground, St-Pierre didn't let up, bouncing his fist off Penn's head repeatedly. After the fourth round, with Penn's arms hanging on the top of the cage, his corner stepped in, saying he could not continue. An amazing win for St-Pierre, and I can't wait until he takes on Thiago Alves and then, hopefully, Anderson Silva. St-Pierre may be the only man - aside from Silva's freind, Machida, who can take "The Spider." We'll see.

from my email inbox just now:
Folks,

MMA Live is broadcasting live from today's weigh-in and tomorrow's fight. We begin tonight with a one-hour weigh-in special at 6:30 pm ET. We have a 60-minute prefight show Saturday at 9 pm ET and will have the most extensive postfight show anywhere, including fighter interviews and analysis from Frank Mir and Kenny Florian, at 1 am ET. As always, we appreciate your support and hope you can join us for the weekend.

here's the link to watch everything:
http://assets.espn.go.com/livenow/ufc94/eng.swf

Thanks and enjoy the fights.

The Staff of MMA Live

Part 1

Part 2

A thank you goes out to the lovely Tracy Lee of combatlifestyle.com

from mmaweekly, by Jeff Cain
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight and light heavyweight titleholder Randy "The Natural" Couture has made a name for himself by his performances in big fights in the UFC Octagon. He's defied Father Time over and over while proving his critics wrong time and again.

Almost as boisterous as his in-cage accolades are his fight breakdowns. "The Natural" has an uncanny ability to make accurate fight picks, including correctly predicting some of the biggest upsets in recent years.

Couture gave his analysis of the UFC 94 main event, the rematch between Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn, exclusively for MMAWeekly.com.

"B.J. is one of the most talented guys that I've ever been around. He has amazing balance and flexibility. He's got naturally heavy hands. His submission skills are top notch," commented Couture. "But I still think we've seen him at 155 fight the best that he has. Although he beat Matt Hughes back in the day at 170, it was more of a style match-up than anything. Conditioning, the body, mindset, everything, it was the best it's ever been at 155."

Penn has been a dominating force in the lightweight division, but has a history of wanting to challenge himself in higher weight classes. Couture believes Georges St. Pierre will be too much for the Hawaiian fighter.

"I just don't see it going well for (Penn) going up to 170, dealing with a guy like Georges who is cutting down a good 15 pounds, probably more, to make the 170-pound limit, who is as dynamic and has the skill sets that Georges has," stated the 44-year-old fighter affectionately know as "Captain America."

Couture added, "Although, I think it's going to be a very interesting fight. I like Georges in a five-round title fight, in that fight."

Georges St. Pierre edged out a split decision victory over B.J. Penn at UFC 58 in their first match up on March 4, 2006.

Behind-the-scenes photo shoot with St-Pierre and Penn

Dana White's UFC 94 vlog, part 3.

For those of you who missed it - like me - here it is, the first installment of a major move forward in MMA fight coverage. It's been compared to HBO's 24-7 series for boxing, but I can't say, 'cause I've never seen that show. Anyway, enjoy this one.

Tonight, on Rogers SportsNet - wherever that is - there's Countdown to UFC 93 at 9 p.m. I'll let you know if it's going to air on any other networks when I get word.

And on Wednesday, there's the first installment of Primetime, where we go behind-the-scenes as Georges St-Pierre and BJ Penn preapre for their UFC 94 fight, 10 p.m. on SpikeTV.

Tune in tonight on Spike at 10 p.m.

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Find more videos like this on BJPENN.COM

BJ Penn, the UFC's lightweight champ, who fights UFC's welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre at UFC 94, has started his own show on his Web site. Looks like it's kind of a vlog leading up to the January 31 showdown. Take a look.

GSP and Penn will do it again at UFC 94.

from mmanews.com:
New York, NY, December 2, 2008 - In anticipation of one of the most prominent mixed martial events of all-time, "UFC 94" featuring welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and lightweight champion BJ Penn, Spike TV presents "UFC Primetime," premiering Wednesday, January 14 10:30 - 11:00pm, ET/PT.

"UFC Primetime," produced by the UFC, delivers an unprecedented portrait of the lives of two of mixed martial arts' biggest stars, Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn, as they prepare for their epic clash of titans in late January. Spike TV will present three special weekly installments that will take viewers from the cliffs of Kailua to the streets of Montreal in an unfiltered look at two great warriors heading into battle for what promises to be one of the greatest match ups of skill in UFC history.

Christopher Martello of Spike TV serves as executive in charge of production of "UFC Primetime."

"UFC 94" will air live on Pay-Per-View Saturday, January 31 from MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas at 10pm ET/7pm PT.

So on this video, BJ goes through a weight-training regimen, but it also shows a little of what goes on behind the scenes when a fighter trains for a fight, and the people who are helping him work toward that goal. It seems not everyone has the same idea of how to go about doing it.

About 2:40 in, you hear somebody say off-camera, "You guys gotta let us be done - this ain't doing shit for him." And then the camera goes to BJ who says, "There's three guys telling everybody what to do. We gotta stop." Interesting stuff.

...Not to mention Jackson and Herring. But I think the real star is Hector Echavarria, an Argentinian karate and taekwondo world champ, whose been starring in movies since 1986. His Wikipedia entry says that he "has also trained and taught martial arts to Mixed Martial Arts super stars such as Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Cheik Kongo, and currently Hector is working with BJ Penn."

Las Vegas, NV (USA) - In March 2006, top welterweights Georges St-Pierre and BJ Penn fought for the division's No. 1 contender's spot. St-Pierre earned a razor-thin split decision and went on to win the Ultimate Fighting Championship® welterweight title. Penn dropped to the lightweight division and won the organization's 155-pound title.

Now they're about to do it again. But this time, there's much more at stake.

UFC® lightweight champion BJ Penn looks to be the first fighter in history to hold two UFC championships at the same time when he faces Georges St-Pierre for the UFC welterweight championship at UFC 94: ST-PIERRE VS. PENN 2, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 31, 2009.

Two champions, two of the best in the world, pound-for-pound, and this time - two more rounds for the welterweight championship.

"This may be the most anticipated rematch in UFC history," said Dana White, UFC President. "Their first fight was an epic battle of two of the best pound for pound fighters in the sport. After that fight, St-Pierre would go on to win the UFC World Welterweight title and Penn would go on to win the UFC World Lightweight title.

Now these two champions meet again with a lot of pride and St-Pierre's title on the line. This fight will be talked about for years to come."

Penn Vs. St-Pierre: let's do it again.

UFC road show: Montreal out, Portland in
By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! sports

Though UFC president Dana White had held open the possibility of another fight in Montreal before the end of the year, he dashed Canadian fans' dreams on Thursday when he said UFC 91 will be on Nov. 15 in Portland, Ore.

White confirmed that lightweights Kenny Florian and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson will meet on that card.

He would not comment on other fights on the card, though he did say the anticipated welterweight title fight between champion Georges St. Pierre and lightweight champion B.J. Penn would be moved to Super Bowl weekend on Jan. 31, 2009, in Las Vegas.

"We have nothing but big fights left for the rest of the year, but this is so crazy because there are so many of them," White said. "We're going to have a retreat on Monday to figure this all out."

Light heavyweight Wanderlei Silva, one of the UFC's most popular fighters, said on Aug. 8 at a UFC Fight Club gathering that he would be fighting at UFC 92 on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas. White, though, said "He might not be on that card, though. But I really don't know for sure now. But I'm thinking he's not going to be on that at this point."

The UFC's schedule for the rest of the year includes UFC 88 in Atlanta on Sept. 6, Ultimate Fight Night on Sept. 17 in Omaha, Neb., UFC 89 on Oct. 18 in Birmingham, England, UFC 90 on Oct. 25 in Chicago, UFC 91 on Nov. 15 in Portland, Ore., The Ultimate Fighter Finale on Dec. 13 in Las Vegas and UFC 92 on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas.