B.J. "The Prodigy" Penn (born December 12th 1978 in Hilo, Hawaii) is a professional Mixed martial arts fighter. Penn is widely regarded among Mixed martial arts fans and commentators as the best fighter in the 155lb-170lb weight class, and pound-for-pound one of the best fighters in the world (ranked #3 pound-for-pound by Inside Fighting).

At the age of seventeen he began training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and in 1997 he started training under Ralph Gracie . After only three years of training, Penn had established himself as one of the most successful submission wrestlers in his weight class. After being awarded his black belt in 2000, he became the first non-Brazilian to win a gold medal in the black belt division of the Mundial World Championships held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

His accomplishments caught the attention of the UFC, where he began his Mixed martial arts career less than a year later in 2001. He would showcase his strong striking skills that year, knocking out top-tier lightweights Din Thomas and Caol Uno before suffering a decision loss to Jens Pulver . He bounced back in 2002, winning victories over the likes of Takanori Gomi and Duane Ludwig. But the crowning achievement of Penn's career came in 2003 at UFC 46. Penn jumped up in weight classes to challenge the five-time welterweight champion Matt Hughes to fill a title contention slot in a division where Hughes had already defeated all the available opposition. Heavily favored to win, Hughes lost the fight four minutes into round 1 by rear naked choke.

Life after the ufc

Since defeating Matt Hughes, the new champion signed to fight in the K-1 organization. As such, ufc president Dana White promptly fired Penn, claiming breach of contract. Penn surrendered the welterweight title by default (which Matt Hughes recovered in his absence), and was sent into exile from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Penn has tried such extremes as a court order to get back into the show and has used the internet to voice himself over this confilct. None of these tactics worked. Recently Penn seems to have adorned a submissive role, saying in interviews what he will do, "if" he gets back on the show, in addition to voicing how friendly he now is with White. As of time of writing, however, Penn is still not back in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

But Penn has continued in his "mission to conquer the MMA world" as one columnist described it, staying at Welterweight and defeating the highly touted striker Duane Ludwig at the 2004 K1 Romenex show in under five minutes. Later, Penn moved up weightclass to face undefeated submission master Rodrigo Gracie at middleweight (205 pounds), a fight which he convincingly won by decision.

At the K1 Heroes event in Japan, Penn controversially moved up to face Ryoto Machida in a heavyweight match. After three rounds, Penn battled evenly with a much larger foe for the first round before tiring under the weight advantage to lose the last two rounds decisively.

Penn's stock as a fighter, however, has been unaffected. Fans were heavily impressed that the once 155 pound fighter could step up to the two hundred and twenty pound Machida and fare so well.

External links

• Official Website
• Official MMA record
• Interview with Mike Sloan