BJ Penn is pumped and ready to take on UFC welterweight title holder George St. Pierre. “I’m coming in, in great shape. I’m going to be real strong and real fast and great condition. I have got allot of stuff I am going to come after him with. I’m going to try to knock him out. I’m going to try to slam him on his head. I’ve got no secrets. I’m just going to go out there and grind this thing out and I’m going to win this fight.” The event will take place Jan-31-2009 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will also air live on PPV.
Last time the two fought each other was in March of 2006. BJ lost to a very close decision. I ask BJ what his best attribute was as far as fighting goes. He said, “My technique, George is a real athletic guy so you have got to be smart out there. You have got to be thinking, weighing everything out as the fight is going.”
With only 1 month left before the fight, I asked “The Prodigy” to explain what his training consists of. “I’m training 5 hours a day. I’m training really hard for 3 hours in the morning, 2 hours at night. I’m just going full blast. I do 12 rounds a day. I do calisthenics, running and sprints, eating healthy food and honest I could fight right now. I could fight right now, today, I’m ready to go!”
Growing up in Hawaii BJ explains, “I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii moved to Hilo when I was 4 or 5 years old. I have 5 siblings, 4 brothers, 1 sister. I grew up in Hilo. I went to Hilo high school. Somebody moved down the road by my house when I was a kid, like 16 years old, and showed me what Jiu-Jitsu was. They weren’t very good at it but they showed me what Jiu Jitsu was and the rest is history I guess.”
BJ tells us his family is behind him all the way. “Defiantly allot of family support from my parents, brothers, we all kind of work together and kind of do everything as one unit.”
When I asked BJ where his nickname came from he told me, “Onthemat.com. On the Mat was my first sponsor when I was just doing Jiu Jitsu and they kept calling me the Hawaiian prodigy and then next thing I was just BJ “The Prodigy” Penn.”
BJ preferred training center is at his own Gym where he is surrounded by those who help him prepare for combat, “Rudy Valentino, Jason Perillo, Adam Disabato, kickboxing coaches, wresting coaches, Jiu-Jitsu coaches and has got everything going full blast right now. I mostly train here. I don’t really go elsewhere to often.” The training center is BJ Penn Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Hilo Hawaii.
Penn’s official mixed martial arts record stands at 13 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw. He is the current UFC World Lightweight Champion. He is going up in weight to take on Georges "Rush" St. Pierre, the current UFC World Welterweight Champion to see if he can obtain that belt as well to become the first UFC fighter to hold 2 weight class titles at the same time. George has won 17 fights and lost 2. If BJ were speaking to George he would say, “Don’t take this thing light. This isn’t a joke. I’m going to come full blast and say, I’m ready to die. I am going to beat you.”
BJ says what he thinks has George the most worried when he thinks about the fight, “I don’t know if he is worried. Everybody is talking about him; he is not that nervous for this fight or if he is taking it light or what. I’m sure he knows that I’ve got some skills that I’m brining to the table. But you never know, fighters, they get too confident sometimes.”
I asked BJ if there was any truth to the rumor I heard that he plans to also move up to the middleweight division to try and sang that tile from Anderson Silva as well to which he replied, “That is not even in my mind right now. I said a few years ago it would be great if I could be the 155 pound champ, 175 pound champ and 185 pound champion, but, I’m just concentrating right now on this fight.”
“I just want to thank all the fans for supporting me and just all the fans that support the sport period. Thank you very. I want to thank BJPenn.com and thank RVCA and Cage Fighter and Troy Mandaloniz -“Rude Boy’.
If you would like to show BJ Penn your support you can go to the following web sites:
http://www.bjpenn.com/
http://www.myspace.com/pennjd
http://www.myspace.com/_MyGYM_
To hear the audio from this interview:
UFC lightweight World Champion - BJ Penn takes time out of his Xmas shopping on Xmas Eve to tell us Merry Xmas and to talk about his upcoming UFC Welterweight title fight against George St. Pierre
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