Georges St-Pierre has named BJ Penn as the toughest man he ever faced in the UFC.
St-Pierre is widely regarded as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, having won a UFC title in two different weight classes across his 15-year career.
St-Pierre met BJ Penn twice during his iconic UFC careerGetty He retained the UFC welterweight title in his 2009 rematch with the HawaiianGettyHis 13 UFC title fight win record is second only to Jon Jones for the most in the promotion’s history, with 12 of those coming successively in a legendary run before ‘GSP’ announced his retirement in 2017.
‘Rush’ mixed it up with the toughest men on the planet in his MMA career, including Brit Michael Bisping, the iconic Nick Diaz, and Johny Hendricks.
However, speaking at a fan Q&A ahead of UFC 315 last month, the 44-year-old from Quebec, Canada, revealed none of those men came to close to one opponent.
“I would say the best guy I fought in terms of skill was BJ Penn,” he said.
“His nickname was ‘The Prodigy,’ because he was the first American to become a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt champion in like three-and-a-half years.
“He was a real prodigy. At the time, he was like the perfect fighter. He was so fast.
“I remember the first time I fought him, I threw a jab, and I used to be very fast, [but] when I threw that jab, he was behind me.
“I was like, ‘What the hell, this guy just teleported himself?’ He was incredibly fast, incredibly skilled, and very hard to deal with.”
St-Pierre first fought Penn at UFC 58 in March 2006, securing a razor-thin split decision victory in a No.1 contender bout for the welterweight title.
He was then set up to fight for the strap against Matt Hughes, who is only one of two men to have defeated ‘GSP’ in the UFC.
St-Pierre fought Penn twice and defeated him both timesGetty But he said Penn was so fast it was like he ‘teleported himself’ during the fightGettyAlthough St-Pierre withdrew from the first scheduled bout due to injury, he eventually got his shot at Hughes’ belt, and exacted revenge against the American, stopping him in two rounds at UFC 65.
‘Rush’ lost his next fight to Matt Serra – the last defeat of his career -before picking up wins over Josh Koscheck, Hughes, Serra, and Jon Fitch to establish his status as the world’s best welterweight.
Then, in January 2009, St-Pierre met Penn in a rematch at UFC 94.
Penn was the UFC’s lightweight champion at the time and was attempting to make history as the promotion’s first ever simultaneous two-weight world champion.
However, he was stopped after four rounds by St-Pierre, who went on to win eight more title fights before laying down the gloves.
St-Pierre’s last fight in the UFC came against British MMA pioneer Bisping, who was submitted by the Canadian at UFC 217 in November 2017.
Penn tried to claim two-division championship status in the rematchGetty But St-Pierre came out on top againGettyPenn, meanwhile, is also highly regarded by hardcore MMA fans as one of the best to ever grace the Octagon.
UFC commentator and popular podcaster Joe Rogan said last month that Penn could have beaten any lightweight in the promotion at his peak.
“He was insane off of his back,” Rogan said.
“He would take your back, you were dead. He would knock you out standing up. His kickboxing was elite.”
Penn made his UFC debut in 2001 and fought an incredible 27 times in the Octagon.
He too won a UFC belt at lightweight and welterweight, while creating some of the greatest rivalries in the promotion’s history.
BJ Penn could be classed as the greatest lightweight of all-time, according to RoganGetty Images - GettyPenn went through wars with legends like Diaz, St-Pierre and Frankie Edgar.
He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in July 2015 as a pioneer of MMA.
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