B.J. Penn is pound for pound one of the best in the world. With his new dedication to the sport, this man has the ability to dominate both weight classes. He has respectfully fought at 205, is a legend at age 29, and has beaten some of the best including Matt Hughes, Takanori Gomi, Renzo Gracie, and Sean Sherk. His strengths are his excellent boxing skills and a legendary ground game. He has great flexibility, which allows him to do amazing things from his back. One of his strongest weapons is his timing. His only weakness that everyone loves to point out is his cardio. However, the latest reports indicate that he is no longer relying on pure talent alone and is working hard on his conditioning. I wonder if he has improved on his wrestling and takedown defense as it is the only other missing link I can see.
GSP is one of the most athletically gifted people on the planet. In dismantling Hughes and Fitch in his last few fights, he’s proved he also is one of the pound for pound best. GSP is a master fight technician who finds his opponents’ weaknesses and tailors a fight plan to exploit that weakness. He is a well rounded fighter mainly because he does not train in a true MMA camp per se. Instead he trains at different gyms with professionals of singular arts such as wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, and BJJ. This type of focus oriented training specifically isolates a perceived flaw and works to make improvements. With wins over Josh Koshcheck, Sean Sherk, Karo Parysian, Matt Hughes, Frank Trigg, and of course BJ Penn, he is highly unpredictable and one of a few strikers that likes to shoot. He loves to put grapplers on their backs with his explosiveness. It is very difficult for opponents to find a weakness to exploit however, BJ did dominate him standing up.
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