BJ Penn, real name Jay Dee Penn is an American martial artist hailing from Hilo, Hawaii and born on December 13, 1978. Penn is an extremely versatile and tricky fighter, who along with great grappling, has excellent takedown defense as well as immense boxing skills. BJ is a practitioner of Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu and is currently the Lightweight Champion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He also won the Welterweight Championship in 2004, defeating Matt Hughes via rear naked choke. After defeating Matt Hughes, Penn decided there wasn't much competition for him left in the UFC and signed with the Japanese Fighting and Entertainment Group(FEG), which stripped him of his Welterweight title with the UFC due to a breach of contract. After going 3-1 in the FEG, Penn decided to return to the UFC in 2006 where he has remained since.
BJ Penn started training in 1997 under Ralph Gracie, where he then earned his purple belt. Shortly after, BJ moved to Nova União, Brazil where he earned his black belt and then became the first American-born winner of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the Black Belt Category just three weeks after earning his belt. Penn's last title defense was on December 19th, 2009 where he stopped Diego Sanchez via TKO in the fifth round. He is currently ranked as the #1 lightweight fighter in the world by popular mixed martial arts organizations such as Sherdog and MMAWeekly.
BJ is one of my favorite fighters because he possesses a great amount of heart and determination. He was also born in the same city in Hawaii as my mother, so there's a feeling of connection in that sense. In the recent earthquake scare in Hawaii, BJ was basically the only one reporting live broadcast of what was happening and news organizations were actually using his footage to post for themselves. All in all, I respect him greatly because even though he is one of the greatest fighters of all time, he is at the same a very humble and grateful human being.