BJ Penn Verus Shinya Aoki Equals Destruction
By: Reverend Turk Vangel Posted On: December 15, 2009 at 5:32pm
After Fighters.com and UFC lightweight champion “Prodigy” BJ Penn (12-4-1) systematically destroyed tenth-ranked “Nightmare” Diego Sanchez (19-2) at UFC 107 in Memphis December 12, the social sites were a buzz with who BJ should fight next.
Second-ranked “Tobikan Judan” Shinya Aoki (14-3) was mentioned by many as someone who would be a great match up for Baby Jay. I was once one who had that on my list of dream match-ups but afer watching BJ give Diego a beat down and upon further consideration I see this as another lopsided fight in favor of my favorite Hawaiian. No offense to those at the Hideaway in Waikiki who I shared many a drinks with.
The reason the fight is appealing at first is because BJ became a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in three years, something that takes at least a deacde for most practitioners. Aoki is also a black belt who has amazing flexibility, similar to that of BJ’s which we see when he utilizes the rubber guard. Aoki has some very creative submissions on his resume and has fought some good strikers as well. This gives the illusion that he could handle the stand up of BJ Penn and in turn the fight would be a battle of jiu jitsu black belts. This is what I used to think as well. BJ has since changed my mind.
Shinya Aoki has never faced a striker like BJ. BJ may have the best jab in all of mixed marial arts and his ability to counter strike has always been good. Saturday he was counter striking with pin point accuracy against a guy with average stand up at best. Aoki’s striking is, well, flat awful.
Aoki typically likes to get inside and either take down his opponent or to pull guard. Taking BJ down is a huge task. Ask seventh-ranked welterweight Matt Hughes (41-7) or “Daddy” Joe Stevenson (29-8). Granted, Matt got BJ down but before he did we witnessed Penn’s amazing flexibility and his supernatural balance. Believe me when I tell you Aoki’s wrestling is not even remotely close to that of Hughes.
This leaves pulling guard or a flying submission of some type. Pulling guard would mean he would need to get inside on BJ and with the aforementioned striking, specifically the jab of Penn’s, I can’t imagine him being able to do that. No matter how hard I try to find a way for Shinya to be able to pull guard, nothing seems to present itself.
So this leads me to believe that we would see Penn brutally beat Aoki with deadly accurate striking until he eventually knocks him out. I am sure some feel that Aoki could have a chance of taking the fight to the mat. So for those of you that believe that could happen, I offer up other issues Aoki would have by coming over to the UFC.
Aoki is known for his grappling pants. These are legal in Japan and help to create friction, thus making submissions easier to lock in on a sweaty opponent. In the UFC he would not be allowed to wear those. That alone puts a damper on pulling guard not to mention the rule change Aoki would have to deal with. Aoki is not accustomed to elbows on the ground as they are illegal in DREAM and Shooto but in the UFC they are leagl and are a brutal weapon if used properly by a fighter.
So let’s say he does get BJ to the ground and he has BJ in his guard. At this time BJ would push Aoki against the cage and utilize this technique to effectively render Aoki unable to continue.
The cage is another downfall for Aoki. The corners of a ring like those used in Dream and Shooto enable a fighter such as Shinya to corner his opponent and then pull guard. He would be fighting in the Octagon and once on the ground he would be unable to slide through the ropes to escape the Hawaiian’s elbows. We have seen many fighters have trouble coming from the ring to the cage and nothing leads me to believe that Aoki would be any different.
I see to many problems for Aoki to deal with in a UFC fight with BJ Penn. In the end it would be another epic fail by an opponent of BJ Penn. There are some better match ups out there for BJ if the UFC decides to go over seas to find him an opponent but I feel BJ is heads and tails above all the lightweights out there.
So what is next for BJ Pen if not Aoki or another over seas fighter? I say a drop to featherweight but only time will tell.
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Comments
Well I hope he can face GSP once again, so he can once again kicks his ass back to Lightweight!
Bj is such a well-rounded fighter that he’s going to need an opponent with great well-roundedness as well. Like GSP, as Horhay put so lightly.
There is no one on the planet at 155 that can beat BJ Penn. GSP and Lyoto Machida both beat him, but they couldn’t knock him down or knock him out. Stop him yes, but actually knock him down or out, nope. So how could anyone with less power at 155 do it? Ain’t gonna happen. The dude is a freak at 155 – he will remain undefeated at 155 – forever – if he wants that to be his legacy.
Hey Andy just to let you know, GSP took Penn down at will. He made him his bitch. I do agree though that Penn is the King at 155, just like GSP at 170, Silva at185, and Fedor at HW. It sucks that these guys gotta go out of their weight class to find competition, it would suck to see baby Jay lose to Pierre again, he just isnt big enough and doesnt train as hard as GSP. If he drops down to 145 it would be awesome, but he would have to go to WEC, unless they bring them up. Imagine seeing BJ agains Urijah Faber, i wonder how fast of a match that would be.
Ya, Andy GSP beat him up bad and did whatever he wanted to with with him in their most recent fight. And Penn has already lossed a fight in the past in the lightweight division so he`s not undefeated. But I`ll say that was a long time ago, plus he`s probably better since the time he fought GSP now.
I agree – I’ve seen the BJ & GSP fights. GSP will always beat BJ, just too big & strong and is as equally talented for his weight as BJ is for his. They both are awesome fighters in their own right.
I also agree that Fedor is THE MAN for HW. Fucking guy is *amazing*….jesus this guy is so fucking cool it blows me away. And so talented, the complete fighter. I think it’s extra cool that the guy doesn’t even *look* like a monster. But the monster lurks within. I agree that Lesnar is huge and talented and scary in his own right. But when he goes to the ground with Fedor, he’d be in serious trouble. And if he stood on his feet, he’d get knocked into next week just like Brett Rogers did, and would again. What *amazes* me about Fedor is how patient, how confident, how cool he really is. He’s such a pleasure to watch fight, just like Anderson Silva, GSP or BJ. Machida is great too but he hasn’t achieved the same level (yet) in my opinion as the others. Shogun had Lyoto in their fight (in my humble opinon). It remains to be see what Lyoto’s legacy will be – he certainly has the potential.
Penn over Aoki in the first round.
No competition what so ever. Waste of time.
Shinya Aoki is one of the most amazing BJJ players of all time, no so for MMA.
I’d love to see GSP come down to 155 and see how it goes.
At his current level of skill, BJ Penn, I believe, is the best fighter in the lightweight division in all of MMA fight organizations.
It’s so sad that due to these ‘promotional rights’ issues, legal contracts, and other marketing issues, a fight couldn’t just be made easily. Somehow, I wish that standard governing bodies be made in MMA since it is already a fast developing sport so that Unification matches could be made between champions of different organizations. Now, what is happening is it is up to those big guys who owns the ‘horses in the stable’.
A well cardio Takanori Gomi will do well against BJ Penn. The main factor that won BJ the first fight was the take downs. Gomi was able to reverse BJ on the ground at one point in the first fight and Gomi’s stand up is much better now aswell as his TD defense and ground game although BJs BJJ is better I think a BJ vs. Gomi 2 would be a good fight especially since they both have an iron chin.
It would be a good fight but Gomi has not done much recently. I don’t think he is as tough as he once was. I see BJ winning the fight with his much improved stand up
The closer you look at the matchup, the more I agree with your evaluation. I see a fight similar to Anderson Silva versus Thales Leites. A brilliant BJJ practitioner like BJ would do well to keep the fight standing, and make Aoki look ridiculous pulling guard and failing to take BJ down while being peppered with punches, kicks, and elbows. Penn would take it by a long and embarrassing decision or by KO early in the fight.