BJ Penn
BJ Penn
BJ Penn in Details
Full Name: Jay Dee Penn
Nicknames: BJ came from his family. All Penn’s brothers have “Jay” as their first name, when BJ was born they started calling him “Baby Jay” and soon shortened to “BJ”.
People started calling him “The Prodigy” because of his fast rise to BJJ Stardom, winning the World BJJ Championships with 3 years and a few months of training.
Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlson Gracie > André Pederneiras > BJ Penn
Main Achievements:
- World Champion (Black Belt Division, 2000)
- UFC Lightweight Champion
- UFC Welterweight Champion
Weight Division (BJJ/MMA): Peso Pena (BJJ); Lightweight and Welterweight (MMA).
Favorite Techniques: Chokes and Guard Passes.
Team/Association (BJJ): Nova União.
BJ Penn Biography:
BJ Penn was born on December 13, 1978 in Kailua – Hawaii. BJ was named Jay Dee Penn, just like his 3 older brothers (the youngest of the family, born after BJ was named Reagan). He is part of a wealthy Hawaiian family woth Korean and Irish descent. As a youngester BJ Penn started training as a way of releasing his hyper activeness, his classes were with neighbour Tom Callos who was a student of Ralph and Cesar Gracie. BJ soon picked up classes in California with Ralph Gracie with whom he stayed until he was a Purple Belt.
BJ understood that he had a future in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and wanted to pursue his career by going to train in Brazil, were the best competitors were, Ralph opposed to this decision and BJ decided to move to Brazil anyway, picking up training at the Nova Uniao Headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. In Nova Uniao BJ had a chance to train with some of the best BJJ lightweights in history, people like Leo Santos, Robson Moura and Shaolin Ribeiro. His Jiu Jitsu game rose exponentially, culminating in a Gold Medal at the Mundial (World Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships) in 2000, being the first American Born to win the prestigious tournament in the black belt division.
BJ Penn’s rise to Black Belt stardom was one of the fastest ever recorded. According to an interview given by BJ himself, he received his black belt in 3 years and 4 months; 6 months to blue belt (Ralph Gracie), 1 year and 6 months more until he reached his purple (Ralph Gracie), 8 more months to receive his brown belt (Andre Pederneiras) and 8 more months to his black belt (Andre Pederneiras).
BJ Started fighting MMA almost a year after winning his World BJJ Championship, and hasn’t stopped competing in Mixed Martial Arts since. He won the UFC Welterweight belt from Matt Hughes in 2004, and the UFC Lightweight belt in 2008 against Joe Stevenson. He was on the Sherdog Top Pound 4 Pound MMA fighter list in 2008 and 2009 and is widely considered one of the best Lightweight Fighters in history.
BJ Penn vs Edson Diniz (Mundial Final 2000)
BJPenn 2001 Mundial Championship
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BJ Penn vs Leozinho Vieira (Sparring/Rolling)
I thought BJ got his black belt from Ralph Gracie
only his blue and purple
I think the notion that he got his blackbelt in 3 years of training is a bit deceitful. BJ and his brother Reagan trained together with Tom Callos in Hawaii for a year or two before BJ started his "formal" training under Ralph. Impressive non the less to do it in 5 years!