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UFC color commentator Joe Rogan revealed the two fighters he wished he could have seen fight inside the octagon.
Former UFC champion BJ Penn is widely regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. ‘The Prodigy’ competed in multiple weight classes and is only the second fighter to hold more than one UFC title. He was made the inaugural inductee into the Modern-era wing of the UFC Hall of Fame.
Alongside Penn, former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is another top contender in the mix for the GOAT (greatest of all time) status. While he had three title defenses, Nurmagomedov retired in his prime with an unblemished record of 29-0.
In episode 1909 of “Joe Rogan Experience,” Rogan shared his dream fight in the UFC.
If there’s a fight that I’d ever want to see, it would be Khabib Nurmagomedov in his prime versus BJ Penn during those years with the Marinovichs.”
Rogan Believes Penn Was the Best When Working With Marinovichs
Rogan compared the different approaches to the game and talked about the renowned strength and conditioning coach Marv Marinovich. According to Rogan, Penn was at the height of his powers when working alongside the Marinovichs.
“There’s a lot of thought to just getting very efficient at the technique when it comes to fighting. Some people believe strength and conditioning are the primary, they think that’s more important than anything. There’s a school of thought like the Marv Marinovich school of thought, which was you already know how to fight so get in insane shape. He had guys doing these crazy plyometrics and jumping boxes and stuff.
“They got BJ Penn, one of the greatest fighters of all time. BJ in his prime, he was training with the Marinoviches (Gary and Marv). He was just doing these unbelievably brutal cardio workouts every day and almost no martial arts. Then he would go and have a gas tank that was off the charts. When you got a guy who’s already as talented as BJ with zero fear of getting tired, he was the GOAT.”
Rogan Praised Penn for His Willingness To Fight Anyone
Rogan praised Penn for his willingness to step inside the cage against anyone, regardless of the weight difference.
“BJ Penn was so unusual that he won the 155-pound title, he won the 170-pound title, and he fought heavyweight. He fought Lyoto Machida as a heavyweight. Gangster! He’s just gangster. When he fought Lyoto, he wasn’t even doing that stuff. That was pre-prime BJ when he would just train and he just ate. He was like, ‘f**k it, I’ll fight anybody.’ Machida was a UFC light heavyweight champion at one point of time. This is before the UFC but Lyoto was still a bad motherf***er. BJ fought him at heavyweight, that’s bonkers.”
The match Rogan referenced is the 2005 showdown between former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and Penn. It was an open-weight bout, with Penn coming in at 191 pounds while Machida weighed 225 pounds. Machida edged him out by unanimous decision at K-1 Hero’s 1.
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