UFC 63

[LuNoTiCK]

Originally posted by: MelikK

Originally posted by: energydan

Originally posted by: randay
What a horrible ending to such a dominating performance by BJ Penn!! WTF MAN! I hate to see skill be beaten so horribly just because of conditioning.

It annoys me because it's a waste of talent. If you are that great, then stop being lazy and do some damn cardio. Penn is a very talented fighter, but he's lazy.

QFT

It's time for someone to beat Hughes, GSP is next!

Seriously, it was clearly obvious that Penn was the better fighter. Although, supposedly it's not because he ran out of cardio. It was just weird though the way he came out with his hands down. I did expect him to gas, just not so fast, and not to such extremes.

Taken from bjpenn.com

Interviewer:
Take us through the second round.

BJ:
I felt great going in, Matt started trying to take me down from my right leg, it's something I expected he might do. He got me down against the fence, but I was thinking about this position alot and I was ready. When he went for a big elbow, he missed and I capitalized and started going for his back. At this moment, when I was making the turn towards his back, I felt my ribs seperate on my right side. Although I didn't know the severity of the situation. I was thinking I have to finish him now because I knew something was wrong. Matt defended himself well and got through the round. When I got up to walk to my corner, I knew something was wrong, but I didn't want to talk about it with my corner. I wanted to be the champ. I wanted to keep fighting.

Interviewer:
What about round 3?

BJ:
I remember standing up out of the corner in pain. But I was thinking, "Earn your title this is what you have to do to get your belt back, fight through the pain". I knew the oppurtunity I had with getting this fight, especially after losing my last fight. I wasn't going to quit on the corner. I kept going because I honestly believed it was destiny. When me and Matt were boxing I felt like I couldn't breathe and had no mobility in my core. But I kept thinking something good is going to happen. When Matt started dominating the stand up I tried for a takedown. I had nothing and pulled to guard. I felt like I couldn't do anything on the ground. But I was still positive. Matt hit me in the ribs from half guard. The pain was so excruciating I had to use my far hand to block it. I would rather Matt pass my guard and punch my face the hit my ribs. When Matt was in his favorite position that he likes. I was still thinking I was going to win somehow. Big John gave me plenty of time. I practiced defending against that position with flexibility, but I had none with my core. Even when Big John stopped the fight, I was still so positive I thought I escaped. Congratulations to Matt, he is a great fighter. It's not his fault that that happened, he fought like the champion he is. He deserved the victory.

 

[randay]

Ah that makes more sense. Unfortunate, he definately would have taken the belt from hughes if he didn't injure himself. Would have been quite an upset and then we would have seen GSP vs penn 2

 

[kinev]

Oh come on...."felt my ribs seperate [sic]"? Penn gassed. He gassed just like he did against GSP. Now he's coming up with some injury to cover the fact that his idea of conditioning by surfing, swimming, and climbing coconut trees probably wasn't the best idea in the world.