The Rubber Matches

Matt Hughes vs. BJ Penn

Records: Matt Hughes 44-7, BJ Penn 15- 6

First fight: January 30th 2004, BJ won by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:39 in the 1st round. BJ won UFC Welterweight Championship.

Second fight: September 23rd 2006 Matt won by TKO (Strikes) at 3:53 of the third round. Matt Defended the UFC Welterweight Championship.

The second fight was exciting and competitive for the first two rounds but BJ Penn appeared to have run out of steam in the third round. There was talk that BJ Penn sustained an injury at some point in the latter part of round two but most people seem to attribute his lack of stamina in round three to his lack of cardio and conditioning. Regardless of the reason the end doesn’t change.

Since then, we have seen a clearly rededicated and a more mature BJ Penn. Since the loss to Matt Hughes, BJ has gone 5-2 with his only losses coming at the hands of George St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight title and Frankie Edgar for the UFC Lightweight Championship. In those seven, BJ Penn 2.0 has never looked or been in better shape. He beat Jens Pulver (2nd round), Joe Stevenson (2nd Round) and Kenny Florian (4th Round) all by submission (rear naked choke). And he absolutely ran through Diego Sanchez beating him by TKO (5th round).

Matt Hughes has gone 3-3 since his win over BJ. Matt has two losses to Georges St-Pierre (TKO and arm-bar submission) and a Los to Thagio Alves (TKO). His wins coming against Chris Lytle via a submission, a razor thin win (there are many that feel he lost this bout) to Matt Serra and his last win over Renzo Gracie (TKO).

As of this writing, Hughes is 37 and Penn is 32. It would be great to see these two legends get it on one more time while Matt is still at a point where his body will allow him to compete at the highest levels.

By Rich Serpa

Jul 10, 2010 2 comments Share

Leave Comment:

BJ Penn needs to regain title and stay focused on the light weight division. Matt Hughes is just about finished with fighting and will probably get cut or retire from the ufc.

by R. Suchocki (Jul 16, 2010)

Hughes will retire at some point but he would never get cut from the UFC. I think Matt will have a job at the UFC if and when he wants and forever how long he wants providing Dana White is still there.

by RichS (Sep 16, 2010)

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