BJ Penn vs Frankie Edgar 3 – The Trilogy No One Wanted
By Christopher Jester
Last Tuesday on UFC Tonight, Ariel Helwani revealed the news that Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn would coach the 19th season of The Ultimate Fighter. Someone, somewhere out there in the world had to cry, “Huh?” That is the sort if impression this announcement made. While this culminates the return of Penn from self-professed retirement, it begs to question what on earth was the idea for Penn to come back to fight Edgar and for the UFC to put this fighter together.
Edgar and Penn have fought twice before. Frankie Edgar got the best of the former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight champion in each bout. The highly contested first battle Edgar won and became the new lightweight champion. An immediate rematch was made but out came a dull and absent Penn who performed listlessly for the five round main event. Edgar retained his belt and Penn went to welterweight instead.
Penn only found success at welterweight once with a knockout victory over Matt Hughes. He would go to a draw against Jon Fitch and lose two fights after that against Nick Diaz and Rory McDonald; the latter making him announce his “retirement”.
At this point, hearing Penn announce his retirement is like hearing a wrestler from pro wrestling state that he or she is retiring. We know it is just talk, and it is basically a vacation. We know they are coming back. This was always one of those situations. But we all know the tales of Penn’s determination. He is a warrior, but this one is something he should have thought out a bit more.
On UFC Tonight, UFC President Dana White stated that Penn originally wanted to fight Benson Henderson to eventually get a crack at Frankie Edgar. White mentioned that Penn stated, “Yeah, I want this Frankie Edgar fight worse than anything. Those two losses are a rock in my shoe.” From a certain point of view, Penn is correct. He lost to Frankie Edgar by decisions. It is not like he got knocked out or submitted. However, he simply lost because he was seemingly not the B.J. Penn of old. He was not aggressive and as time passed through the fight, he had to combat Edgar’s pace and footwork – basically kryptonite to Penn’s known weakness which is cardio.
Not only is he fighting Edgar again, but he is also dropping down to 145lbs. it just screams that this is a personal vendetta to correct losses that he feel like he should have won. The problem is the 34-year-old Penn has never fought professionally at featherweight. Additionally, the 19th season will not air until April of 2014 and the coaches’ fight is still undetermined. That is quite some layoff for Penn from competition and in a new weight class. While he has struggled with his weight in the past, this seems like a dangerous one for Penn at this point in his career.
This move by the UFC in general seems like an unsure one. The original plan was to pit Frankie Edgar versus Urijah Faber but neither wanted to move to the other’s respective division and Dana White did not want to make a catchweight bout. It left Edgar without a dance partner and in come Penn prancing back from his retirement and the match just seems to make sense based on coincidental timing. Ironically, both men are a crossroads in their career. Before defeating Charles Oliveira, Edgar was a on three-fight skid; all title losses. Penn had no luck in two weight divisions. With that perspective, this is the only way the fight makes sense. If either of these men earn a victory, does it propel them up the featherweight rankings? Perhaps for Penn who is still a major draw for the UFC. But for Edgar, he should still have to defeat another high ranked 145er to get anywhere close to a title shot as long as Jose Aldo is the champion.
The anticipation of this fight has to be somewhat small. Other than Penn returning, this is a trilogy that no one expected. Perhaps that is why the UFC is banking on them coaching opposite of one another to build up some heat for this fight. A trilogy between these two just does not seem have to the hype needed to make some traction. However, Penn is considered one of the best of all time and Edgar is the real-life version of Rocky Balboa. Could this fight build up some momentum before their matchup? Sure but it will be because of the show and not because of the fight itself. In the meantime as we wait for the airing of the 19th season of TUF, we are left to scratch our heads and ponder if the relevancy of this fight deserves any merit.
Follow Christopher “sLapDatSuCKa” Jester on Twitter @sLapDatSuCka
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