Hughes vs. Penn 3 to happen at UFC 123

[Buffalo Dave]

MMAjunkie:

With another lightweight title shot not on the horizon, B.J. Penn (15-7-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC) will return to the welterweight division to complete a trilogy of fights with Matt Hughes (45-7 MMA, 18-5 UFC).

The fight takes place in November at UFC 123 and could serve as the night's co-main event, a source close to the negotiations told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Hughes first hinted at the matchup in a Tuesday blog post, which prompted reports of the Penn booking.

UFC 123 takes place Nov. 20 at The Palace of Auburn Hills in suburban Detroit. A light-heavyweight bout between former champs Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto Machida headlines the pay-per-view portion of the show.

Penn and Hughes, of course, have met twice before. Penn won the first meeting via submission at UFC 46, but Hughes got his revenge at UFC 63 and scored a third-round TKO. Hughes lost his long-held welterweight belt for the first time with the UFC 46 loss. Prior to UFC 63, he reclaimed the title with a win over Georges St-Pierre and successfully defended it with the Penn victory.

Hughes, who was once on the verge of retirement in recent years, has found new life in the UFC's loaded welterweight division. After a 1-3 skid that saw him lose his belt and a vacant interim title, the recent UFC Hall of Fame inductee has rebounded with consecutive wins over Matt Serra, Renzo Gracie and Ricardo Almeida.

Penn, meanwhile, looks to gain some traction at 170 pounds following his quick descent at lightweight. Once the world's universal No. 1 ranked 155-pounder, Penn lost his belt to Frankie Edgar at UFC 112 and then suffered another decision loss to "The Answer" at UFC 118 in an August rematch. Perhaps surprisingly, Penn hasn't fared well at 170 pounds and owns a career 1-3 mark in the division.

I was surprised when I just saw this. If Penn is struggling at Lightweight, why would he want to move up to Welterweight where he struggles even more? So much for Hughes taking the rest of the year off. At least it gives Hughes the step up in competition. I just hope Penn decides to fight and doesn't look drugged like he did in his last fight with Edgar, he barely engaged with Edgar at all and didn't try to hard to defend the takedowns, if it is the same BJ we just saw than Hughes will lay him out. I also wonder if this is a permanent move to Welterweight for BJ or another one fight deal, then back down to Lightweight?

What are your thoughts on this fight?

 

[INDYjon22]

I'll watch it. The first two fights are rather enjoyable and I honestly believe this fight is a lot closer then some people may think. Hughes has been very good since his loss to Thiago Alves, and remember that the last time he fought Penn he won. Whereas, BJ looked horrible in his last fight and I am honestly questioning his desire to fight at this point. I know he said he wanted to fight as soon as possible, which is a great indicator that maybe there is a fire lit under his ass, but I just don't know. This, however, is an ideal fight for either guy. If Penn wins then he will be back to being a top contender and a threat in the Welterweight division, and a win for Hughes could easily give him the next crack at the title behind Jon Fitch. I would put my money on the winner of this fight facing the winner of Shields/Kampmann with a number one contenders spot on the line.

As for the fight itself. Hughes is the bigger and stronger and I think that gives him the advantage. I don't want to take anything away from Penn, because it is obvious that he can beat Hughes. However, I think Hughes wrestling and boxing combination will be enough to get Hughes the win in the end. Really, I could care less who wins, because I am not a fan of either man, in fact I would prefer Penn to win, but I just feel like Hughes weight advantage will help him get the win, not to mention we don't know where Penn's head is at right now.

 

[jmt225]

Couldn't be happier with this match-up.

If Penn is struggling at Lightweight, why would he want to move up to Welterweight where he struggles even more?

Penn is not struggling at Lightweight. Let me explain to you what happened.

He got screwed in the first fight against Edgar, and in the 2nd, A) he still didn't take it seriously, B) his corner was piss poor, and C) Edgar fought like a little bitch. Seriously, go watch Penn vs. Edgar again, and you know what you'll see? Edgar run to Penn, do a couple of PATS, and then run away. No real punches, but little pats. He scored his way to victory like a cunt, which is why he won.

Matt Hughes is nothing like that though; he'll actually FIGHT BJ Penn, and we saw what happened the last two times Hughes tried to fight Penn. The first time, Penn dominated him, and the 2nd time... Penn dominated him for the first 2 rounds before cracking a rib.

So, yeah... very, very excited for this fight, and really hoping Penn can redeem himself for the last loss against Hughes and for the two "losses" against Edgar. Let's just hope, as we always have to do, that BJ Penn is taking the fight very seriously, and does a few changes with his camp.

 

[M. Winters]

Interesting to see these guys go at it again, don't really know why BJ wants to go up to Welterweight though, it's a road with a brick wall at the end of it named GSP. With the way BJ has looked in his last 2 fights against Edger I'm expecting Hughes to pull of the win. He's looked great in his last 3 fights and I expect him to wrestle Penn to a decision.

 

[Via Armbar]

He got screwed in the first fight against Edgar, and in the 2nd, A) he still didn't take it seriously, B) his corner was piss poor, and C) Edgar fought like a little bitch. Seriously, go watch Penn vs. Edgar again, and you know what you'll see? Edgar run to Penn, do a couple of PATS, and then run away. No real punches, but little pats. He scored his way to victory like a cunt, which is why he won.

Ha I'm going to dismiss the bias you have towards one of your favorite fighters jmt. I personally scored the first fight for Edgar. After hearing that a lot of people believed Penn was screwed, I watched it a couple more times and still I scored it for Edgar. I understand that he never inflicted huge damage on Penn, but there is no way someone can say he didn't out work him. He gave Penn an offense that he couldn't handle and BJ couldn't get through this to score any of his own offense. Sounds like winning to me. I see where you are coming from with Edgar's jab and jive style, but he outworked him. Period. The second fight was far more obvious.

As far as the third fight with Hughes goes, this had me worried for BJ. Hughes looks as if he hasn't lost much speed or power yet and by now everybody knows that BJ is best at LW. He cannot match power with Hughes but will have a striking advantage. The determining factor will definitely be Hughes take downs and whether or not BJ can stuff them. Hughes is one of those fighters where once you are in his world it is very hard to escape. Hopefully Penn can pull this off. Right now though it looks 65/35 odds for Hughes taking this.

 

[Tha Wolfpac]

I am definetly with JMT about the second fight, Edgar fucking taps Penn on the face moves back, moves back same offense same tactic. It gave him the win, but what a shit way to win. But honestly BJ Penn has not looked like BJ Penn he has lost his will to fight at least that is what i see from him, it just doesnt seem he has that fire lit under him. As of right now Matt Hughes and BJ Penn is definetly something i would like to see as their first encounters were excellent and entertaining.

BJ Penn i dont really see him beating Matt Hughes at this point, unles Matt Hughes tries to outstrike BJ.

 

[The Crock]

I can't wait for this fight, it's gonna be very entertaining. I've loved the first two fights in this trilogy, this one should be pretty explosive too. Hughes has been having a bit of a resurgence, and Penn is coming off losing to Edgar so this is a good match-up. As for those who keep saying that Penn is struggling, that is totally false. Penn didn't lose the first fight, he should have won it, while the second fight wasn't all that great for him. He probably won't stay up at Welterweight, because he won't do too good in the division... but he might as well for one last fight with Hughes.

 

[Via Armbar]

I can't wait for this fight, it's gonna be very entertaining. I've loved the first two fights in this trilogy, this one should be pretty explosive too. Hughes has been having a bit of a resurgence, and Penn is coming off losing to Edgar so this is a good match-up. As for those who keep saying that Penn is struggling, that is totally false. Penn didn't lose the first fight, he should have won it, while the second fight wasn't all that great for him. He probably won't stay up at Welterweight, because he won't do too good in the division... but he might as well for one last fight with Hughes.

Do you mean he should have won it as like ''Yeah, he has shown the skills or dominance to have beaten Edgar but didn't follow though" or more like "That was a bullshit decision and Penn won that fight" because I agree with one of those and disagree with the other.

Edgar out worked Penn the first time around. Seriously, can people deny that? If you hate his style, if you don't like the fact that he was a total spazz and jab and jived his way to a decision, then that's fine. Still, he did more damage than Penn did. He landed more shots, got more takedowns and neutralized Penn in every area. That's winning a fight. Yeah, it was disappointing to see BJ lose like that but he just couldn't answer Edgar. It was not a robbery in any way shape or form. This isn't a wrestler who laid and prayed his way to victory. Edgar was constantly working Penn over and got in a lot of offense. More than Penn did. I really want someone to explain to me how this isn't a victory?

 

[jmt225]

Edgar out worked Penn the first time around. Seriously, can people deny that? If you hate his style, if you don't like the fact that he was a total spazz and jab and jived his way to a decision, then that's fine. Still, he did more damage than Penn did. He landed more shots, got more takedowns and neutralized Penn in every area. That's winning a fight. Yeah, it was disappointing to see BJ lose like that but he just couldn't answer Edgar. It was not a robbery in any way shape or form. This isn't a wrestler who laid and prayed his way to victory. Edgar was constantly working Penn over and got in a lot of offense. More than Penn did. I really want someone to explain to me how this isn't a victory?

This is absolutely false, Armbar. Check out the Fight Metric Stats:

http://blog.fightmetric.com/2010/08/edgar-vs-penn-fightmetric-report.html

While Edgar landed more takedowns, he was only 2 of 13, and BJ didn't attempt any whatsoever. But BJ still won the "wrestling" contest just based off the fact he was able to stuff the takedown so many times. It fucking pisses me off that judges don't count takedown defenses. And as far as you claiming Edgar landed more shots... as I said, absolutely false. The Fight Metric above speaks for itself. Penn threw and landed more shots, and he had the better percentage.

So, yeah... while I'll admit it was a close fight, BJ Penn still won it my mind, and Fight Metric proves it.

 

[The Crock]

Do you mean he should have won it as like ''Yeah, he has shown the skills or dominance to have beaten Edgar but didn't follow though" or more like "That was a bullshit decision and Penn won that fight" because I agree with one of those and disagree with the other.

Edgar out worked Penn the first time around. Seriously, can people deny that? If you hate his style, if you don't like the fact that he was a total spazz and jab and jived his way to a decision, then that's fine. Still, he did more damage than Penn did. He landed more shots, got more takedowns and neutralized Penn in every area. That's winning a fight. Yeah, it was disappointing to see BJ lose like that but he just couldn't answer Edgar. It was not a robbery in any way shape or form. This isn't a wrestler who laid and prayed his way to victory. Edgar was constantly working Penn over and got in a lot of offense. More than Penn did. I really want someone to explain to me how this isn't a victory?

No dude, Penn had a better fight the first time around. He got screwed out of the win. Admittedly, he lost the second fight, but... Again, he didn't deserve to lose the first fight. He also worked Edgar in the first fight, Edgar didn't look nearly as good in the first fight as he did in the last fight. Penn landed more strikes, and defended 12 takedowns from Edgar. Edgar only landed 1 out of 13 takedowns. FightMetric also gave Penn a rating of 52 for the fight while Edgar got 45. FightMetric scored the fight as a Win for Penn, 49-47.

http://blog.fightmetric.com/2010/08/edgar-vs-penn-fightmetric-report.html

EDIT: I DIDN'T NOTICE JMT'S POST... SORRY.