I’m about as big a fan of B.J. Penn as you’ll find. He hardly has any holes in his mixed martial arts repertoire, and the few that he does have aren’t very big. And even though the sport has evolved rapidly in the past 15 years, Penn has kept himself near the pinnacle for his entire ten year career thus far.

However, as impressive as Frankie Edgar looked in defeating Penn for the second time at UFC 118, it seems a considerable amount of attention has focused on what’s wrong with Penn, not what’s right with Edgar. UFC President Dana White gave his own take on Penn in an interview with ESPN.com.

“B.J. Penn should be undefeated,” White said of the 15-6-1 Hawaiian, who sounded as though he’d be pondering his future hard after getting dominated by Edgar in Boston. “All-time, his legacy … I don’t know where he sits now. He couldn’t do anything against Edgar. He got completely dominated.”

Has Penn slipped athletically? Has he peaked, at age 31? “It looked like it the other night,” White said.

I certainly see where Dana is coming from to an extent. Penn has otherworldly Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, excellent takedown defense and dangerous striking ability. But with so much natural ability, his lack of commitment to a diligent pre-fight training regimen arguably held him back until the past couple of years, where his cardio hasn’t been in question.

As good as Penn is though, perhaps it’s unfair to look at B.J.’s setback to Edgar as another glaring example of him failing to live up to his potential, or an indication that Penn’s best days are behind him. Maybe, just maybe, Edgar’s athleticism, footwork, wrestling and overall strategy made for the perfect cocktail to prove even Penn is human and can’t necessarily beat every lightweight fighter on the planet as long as he feels like it.

Although White may have been using a bit of hyperbole, MMA isn’t the type of sport where even the most talented, hardest working fighters can go undefeated. Look no further than Lyoto Machida for a recent example.

And not long ago, many people, including myself, began to suspect we might not see a UFC title change hands in the foreseeable future. Since then, we’ve seen Penn and Machida lose and Brock Lesnar and Anderson Silva given all they could possibly handle.

So why have some reacted the way they have to the discovery of Penn’s kryptonite?

Perhaps the sport’s growth plays a part. In 2004, Penn beat an unstoppable looking Matt Hughes with relative ease. Since returning to lightweight in 2007, Penn dominated Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson, Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian, and Diego Sanchez. All were impressive wins at the time, but only Florian, and maybe Hughes, still reside in the top tens of their respective rankings.

Maybe because he so easily brushed aside yesterday’s competition, we forget that today brings new challengers. Or perhaps others, upset over the years Penn may have wasted in the middle of his career by not pushing himself enough in training, subconsciously want Penn to make up for lost time. Us sports fans are certainly fickle at times.

If you go back and watch the Edgar vs. Penn rematch, and then compare Penn’s style, approach, and cardio to some of his previous performances, chances are the only glaring difference you’ll see isn’t in Penn, but in his opponent.

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