Georges St Pierre - Image: Zuma Press

During an interview with Yahoo’s Kevin Iole, BJ said “It’s just my opinion that he uses steroids. That’s it. My opinion. I do believe it. I can’t hand you any proof, but that’s my opinion.”

Another quote from Penn: “In my opinion, he doesn’t play by the rules when it comes to steroids and growth hormones and that stuff. Look at him. He’s the worst. He looks like that every day. That’s cheating. There is a reason why there are rules against using steroids. The rest of us, we get fat, then we train and get skinny and the cycle goes over and over again. He looks the same way all the time. Come on.”

While it is true that Georges St Pierre does look ripped all the time, that has to do with his work ethic and training regiment. Even when not preparing for an upcoming fight, GSP is in the gym training with a zeal that borders on obsessive compulsive. Even his vacations usually involve training – he spends a good amount of downtime in Brazil sharpening his skills with jiu jitsu experts and working out with them on the beach.

In short, all signs point towards BJ being completely off the mark. Throwing around steroid allegations without even a shred of evidence like this – especially at one of the most respected martial artists in the sport – is pretty insane and is likely going to cost BJ a lot of fans. But it might get him what he seems to really desire: a third shot at beating Georges. I don’t really see a point but if he wants to get his butt kicked again, I’ll tune in.

First though, he’ll have to make it through Kenny Florian this Saturday at UFC 101. You can read my breakdown of that fight here, and make sure to check out the EveryJoe MMA / UFC section regularly for more random drama and fight insanity!

Post from: EveryJoe

BJ Penn Accuses St Pierre of Using Steroids

UFC 101 - Image: UFC

This one’s for the UFC lightweight belt and has an interesting narrative behind it. BJ Penn just got pasted by Georges St Pierre a few months back … like to the point where he quit on the stool between the 4th and 5th round. How BJ will bounce back is a big question mark, especially considering he’s always been a bit of a headcase when it comes to motivation and training hard.

In Kenny Florian, BJ faces a decent challenge but it’s pretty much BJ’s fight to lose. There is no doubt that Florian will be coming into this fight more motivated and in shape than ever before. If BJ isn’t taking this fight seriously, he could find himself out muscled or horrifically cut open by one of Kenny’s trademark elbows to da grill.

Not only will this fight answer questions about BJ Penn and determine the future of the UFC’s lightweight division, it’s also pretty much guaranteed to be a great fight. Only one of Kenny’s last five fights has gone to a decision and for all BJ’s strange habits and actions outside the cage, he’s never a bore when he’s in it.

Here’s the rest of the UFC 101 card for your browsing pleasure. For more information on how to catch the card, click here.

Televised card:
B.J. Penn versus Kenny Florian
Anderson Silva versus Forrest Griffin
Amir Sadollah versus Johny Hendricks
Ricardo Almeida versus Kendall Grove
Kurt Pellegrino versus Josh Neer

Non-PPV prelim fights:
Aaron Riley versus Shane Nelson
Tamdan McCrory versus John Howard
Alessio Sakaraversus Thales Leites
Matt Riddle versus Dan Cramer
George Sotiropoulos versus Rob Emerson
Jesse Lennox versus Danillo Villefort

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 101 Preview: BJ Penn vs Kenny Florian

UFC 101 Poster

After his win over Joe Stephenson, I’m eager to see where this match will go. Florian has carried himself a long way since his TUF days and has proven not to just be another fighter from the show that comes and goes.

“On June 7th I will be doing the color commentary on Versus for WEC 41. The event will take place at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. WEC 41 will feature a featherweight title fight between Mike Brown and Urijah Faber.”

August 8th is going to be a strange day. Will we see the fall of B.J. Penn? Maybe the total destruction of Forrest Griffin or a Middleweight campion fall to a light heavyweight?

Post from: EveryJoe

Kenny Florian To Commentate WEC 41

(Image: Newscom)

You can enter the “Out Of The Ring And In To The World Contest”, here’s the basics of how you can enter.

• Your Community Project Video (Your short-video showing what your Community Project entailed) must be posted on BJPENN.COM no later than 12:00 am PST on Monday, May 18th, 2009. It must also be tagged “Community Project.”
• Remember: Your project must offer aid, help, comfort, and/or some kind of benefit or service to something or someone (or a group) in your own community.
• Your video should document the event and show your results; videos should be no longer than 10 minutes in duration (under 5 minutes is preferred).
• Go to THIS LINK (www.BJPENNCONTEST.SQUARESPACE.COM) for a more in-depth explanation and examples of acceptable community projects (and we even have a recorded tutorial and guidelines to help you, plus a phone number you can call if you need more assistance!).

Win or lose, you helped make a difference in a community and that should make you feel good about yourself and the people you helped. I mean, winning a trip to UFC 98 with expenses paid would be a great experience, but knowing that you helped your community is rewarding in a much bigger way.

For more details and the complete list of rulles go to BJPenn.com .

(Image: Newscom)

Post from: EveryJoe

Go To UFC 98 With BJ Penn Contest

Image: Newscom

BJ Penn moves back down to the lightweight ranks to defend his lightweight title against Kenny Florian, who beat Joe Stevenson in round 1 at UFC 91 to become the number 1 contender. Florian, also a TUF season 1 veteran has only 2 losses in the UFC. The first being at middleweight to Diego Sanchez in the TUF Finale. The second loss was to Sean Sherk in 2006. BJ Penn comes off of his upset loss in a controversial match against Georges St. Pierre.

So far these are the only two fights officially scheduled and announced by the UFC .

Post from: EveryJoe

Silva Moves Up To 205 To Take On Griffin

Fight For The Kids

‘ohana and in the community by promoting a safe and nurturing environment for children and families”, focusing on Happy Valley. Here is the fight card.

Sean Souza vs. Jon Quinlan
Bryan Jackson vs. Chris Payne
Kean Desa vs. Jake Noble
Russell Hamilton vs. Ipe Sahagun
Timmy Nacis vs. Jason Emmsley
Kazu Boy vs. Rocky Planesi
Bruen Tavares vs. TBD

MAIN EVENT
Maka Watson vs. Dominic Ah Nee

Tickets are one sale now for$30 to $35 at the following locations: 808 Nalu, I & I Gym, 1320 Performance, Crater Cycles, Da Kitchen, Request Music, Hana Highway Surf, Ku’au Store, SOLID Clothing and Neighborhood Place of Wailuku.

If you can’t make the show you can always donate directly at the Fight For The Kids Website.

For more information go to http://fightforthekids.org/

Image: Fightforthekids.org

Post from: EveryJoe

BJ Penn Want You To Help Fight For The Kids

Roger Huerta (Image: Newscom)

over the weekend.

• BJPenn.com sent out a newsletter sayiung that the Penn camp has received the fight agreement for UFC 101 to defend his Lightweight title again Kenny Florian.
• Other rumored fight for UFC 101 is Forrest Griffin vs. Thiago Silva and Matt Hamill Vs. Brandon Vera.
• Bobby Lashley has been signed to another fight, this time facing former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Marcus Jones. That fight is set to take place at XFC 8: Regional Conflict on April 25th.
• Roger Huerta was on HDNet’s Inside MMA. Concerning the last fight on his UFC contract he stated; “I’m just waiting on the call”. Huerta chose not to renew his contract with the UFC in order to pursue a career in modeling and acting.
• MMAFighting.com recently posted an interview with TUF Season 7 contestant Jessie Taylor. They talked about fighting at 185, his loss to CB Dollaway and Junie Browning. Jessie fought this weekend at a King Of Champions event, winning the middleweight title from Chris Camozzi by unanimous decision. This is Taylor’s 4th straight win.

Post from: EveryJoe

Monday Morning MMA Catch-Up

Kenny Florian Vs. Joe Stevenson (Image: Newscom)

B.J. Penn suffered a terrible loss against his last fight to Georges St. Pierre. Whether you think that Pierre’s lubed up back was a factor that kept Penn from winning is besides the point. B.J. Penn has a lightweight title to defend and Kenny Florian wants it. In a newsletter sent out by Florian, he stated:

“BJ Penn has been someone I have looked up to for a long time. He has accomplished
many amazing things. So I am looking forward to testing myself against one of the
greatest if not the greatest lightweight fighter in the world.”

So nothing is completely set in stone yet, but  UFC Co-Owner, Lorenzo Fertitta  said that it is likely to happen at UFC 101, which will now take place in Philadelphia on August 8th and not in POrtland, Oregon, where it was origianlly slated to take place. This should be an exciting fight to say the least.

Post from: EveryJoe

Florian: “I will Be Fighting BJ Penn”

Georges St. Pierre’s side already said he would fight Penn again and Penn has verbally accepted it. Here is a part of a blog posting at bjpenn.com by BJ Penn:

Being able to apply your submissions and sweeps or just being able to hold on to your opponent to defend yourself from being hit is absolutely critical! There is a reason why you are not allowed to put grease anywhere on your body except for the area around your eyes. Because of the grease applied to St.Pierre’s Body the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s executive director, Keith Kizer has stated that the Penn-St. Pierre fight “definitely wasn’t fair”. I hereby accept George St. Pierre and Greg Jackson’s challenge for a fight in the summer 2009. Lets call Dana now and set it up.

I, along with many people feel that he has an obligation in the lightweight division first. People, Kenny Florian to be specific, are waiting on their shot at that belt. There are also others waiting for a chance at the Welter Weight belt. I think it’s only fair to give those people that chance before signing any GSP Vs. Penn III fight. Hopefully Dana White will make a decision with contenders in mind and not dollar signs.

Image: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

GSP Vs. BJ Penn…A Third Time?

Here are the purses for UFC 94. A much more realistic pay scale, even for an established promotion. Rumors are floating around that the Affliction MMA promotion may be having financial difficulties after their fighters purses for Affliction: Day Of Reckoning was more than what they grossed in ticket sales. No word yet on how much they made in PPV earnings.

WB= Win Bonus

• Georges St. Pierre – $200k w/$200k= $400k Total WB (Fedor Emelianenko was paid $300k with no win bonus)
• BJ Penn – $125k  (Andrei Arlovski was paid $1.5 million and lost)
• Lyoto Machida – $60k w/$60 WB and $65k Knock Out Of The Night bonus= $185k total. This is a well deserving bonus!
• Thiago Silva – $29k
• Jon Jones – $7k w/$7k WB
• Stephan Bonnar – $22k
• Karo Parisyan – $40K w/$40k WB
• Dong Hyun Kim – $26 k
• Clay Guida – $20 w/$20 WB and $65k Fight Of The Night bonus= $105k total.
• Nate Diaz – $20k and $65k Fight Of The Night Bonus= $105k total.

Gate for UFC 94 was announced at $4.3 Million.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 94 Pay Days