Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Lightweights

2. B.J. Penn

Like a lot of lightweight champions, Penn suffered a long, depressing losing streak when he was past his best, losing his last seven fights: two at welterweight, two at featherweight and three at lightweight. In his prime, however, he was truly “The Prodigy” and widely considered the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. Of course, we know about Penn's accomplishments at 170, choking out Sherdog's third-greatest welterweight of all time, Matt Hughes, to win the UFC title at that weight and then knocking him out in 21 seconds to win their rubber match, or arguably beating Georges St. Pierre, perhaps the greatest fighter ever, in their first meeting. However, he also had a tremendous career at lightweight. Prior to becoming the official champion, he submitted Takanori Gomi, recorded a timeless 11-second knockout of Caol Uno, defeated Matt Serra by decision, submitted Duane Ludwig and beat Renzo Gracie. To be fair, Penn was prone to occasional lack of effort and preparation, as was evident in his rematch draw with Uno, his decision loss to Jens Pulver and his loss in the second Hughes fight at welterweight, which he was winning until gassing out. All that changed in 2007, when Penn gained a new focus and recorded five straight great wins at lightweight, punctuated only by a second loss to St. Pierre at welterweight. After gaining revenge against Pulver via submission, Penn choked out Joe Stevenson for the vacant UFC lightweight belt, knocked out tough former champ Sean Sherk, decimated and choked out Kenny Florian, and finally, utterly destroyed Diego Sanchez before the doctor mercifully stopped it. All of these fights were one-sided beatings.

Penn had very good wrestling, outstanding takedown defense and superlative BJJ in his heyday, but he was most impressive and unique for developing excellent striking as well, particularly his sharp, technical, fast, and powerful boxing. It was a seemingly unbeatable combination that only the very greatest wrestlers in the sport, who were bigger than Penn to boot, like St. Pierre, could overcome. Of course, eventually the evolution of what has always been one of MMA's most skilled, cutting-edge divisions caught up with him, and the great Frankie Edgar shockingly took the throne from Penn in 2010, then proved it was no fluke by winning the rematch four months later. However, it had taken many years for the division to finally catch up to Penn's level.

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