Morning Report: Joe Rogan argues B.J. Penn still lightweight GOAT: 'I would put him against anybody'

05/08/2025 08:00 AM

B.J. Penn is long removed from his glory days, but his greatness hasn't been forgotten.

Joe Rogan spoke about Penn on a recent podcast, first discussing how improvements in fitness brought out the best in the former two-division UFC champion, and then putting forth the suggestion that a prime Penn could give any lightweight a run for their money—including the great Khabib Nurmagomedov.

"When B.J. Penn was in his prime, he was training with Marv Marinovich, and Marv Marinovich had very unorthodox training methods where it was all plyometrics, explosive drills, sprints, box jumps, all this crazy stuff, and he believed—I hope I'm not quoting him incorrectly—but he believed fight training was of secondary importance when you're in camp and really what was important is to just have a f*cking insane gas tank," Rogan said. "B.J. Penn knows how to fight, he's a world champion, he's not going to forget how to fight. But you can could get him training this way where you have this gas tank that's just insane and when B.J. Penn was training with him, he was unstoppable.

"I always say this—people talk about Khabib being the greatest lightweight of all time and maybe he is, it's very possible he is—but I would put the B.J. Penn that fought Joe "Daddy" Stevenson, the B.J. Penn that fought Sean Sherk, the B.J. Penn that was in that peak when he was training [with Marinovich], I would put him against anybody. When he fought Diego Sanchez, he couldn't be stopped, and if you got him to the ground, his f*cking submission game was insane. He was insane off of his back. He would take your back, you were dead. He would knock you out standing up. His kickboxing was elite."

Nurmagomedov has become a popular answer for "Who is the best fighter ever to compete at 155 pounds?" and for good reason. He retired in 2020 with a 29-0 record, three lightweight title defenses, and wins over a laundry list of stars and future UFC Hall of Famers. His dominant wrestling frequently led to lopsided results in his favor and his decision to hang up the gloves five years ago left fans wanting to see him continue to beat the best.

Penn's 16-14-2 record doesn't reflect the force of nature he was in his prime, when he put on spectacular performances at welterweight and lightweight that made him a fan favorite during the UFC's rise in the 2000s. His feuds with Georges St-Pierre and Matt Hughes are two of the most famous in MMA history, and though he became champion in two divisions, it was at lightweight where he was most feared.

So how does Rogan think Nurmagomedov would have approached a dream fight with Penn?

"Take him down, for sure," Rogan said. "He'd probably fight him the same way Georges St-Pierre did. But the difference in size between B.J. Penn and Georges St-Pierre is pretty significant. B.J. Penn is really a 155-pound guy, who actually later in his career fought 145. Later, when he was kind of at the end of his career. But Georges is way bigger. Georges was a big 170, big muscular 170 with great wrestling, nasty ground-and-pound, and a black belt in jiu-jitsu himself, and also a really good striker. ... There was also accusations of greasing because Georges was very slippery in that fight. If you were a grappler and the other person can't get a hold of him, especially if you're a guy like B.J. who fights so well off of his back.

"B.J.'s legs were like arms where he could be sitting there without using his hands and he could put his feet in the lotus position, so completely crossed and lock his legs in the lotus position without using his hands at all. Crazy flexibility and dexterity. So if you were trapped in his guard, you were f*cked."

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FINAL THOUGHTS

As an unapologetic B.J. Penn stan, I've more than once wondered if he would stand a chance against the mighty Khabib. Then again, I also thought Khabib could lose to Tony Ferguson. So that's where I'm coming from.

EXIT POLL

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