There’s already a lot of talk about BJ Penn moving to 170 again. He beat Diego Sanchez so thoroughly that one wonders if anyone at 155 has a chance against him. It’s a fairly weak class at the top level: there are a lot of good lightweights, but only one great one. Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar are on their way to shots, and it’s Penn’s obligation as champion to fight the top contenders, but after he disposes of them the ranks of contenders looks thin.
Unless Georges St. Pierre moves to 185, I do not want to see BJ Penn at 170. He always looks worse at 170 than 155, and the joy of watching BJ Penn is seeing him at the peak of his skill level. Is a Penn/Alves fight intriguing? Yes. Is there any reason to put a natural lightweight against a natural middleweight? Not really. Penn was so thoroughly dominated by St. Pierre that there’s really no reason to do that fight again until the last fight of BJ’s career. If he wants to end his career with a final chance at St. Pierre I wouldn’t object, but while he’s a relevant champion I don’t see a reason to do it.
Penn’s camp is notorious for feeding his ego and telling him what he wants to hear, so it’s no surprise Rudy Valentino is already talking about a third fight with St. Pierre and moving to 170. Unfortunately it looks like there’s nobody close to Penn willing to tell him things he doesn’t want to hear.
There are other potentially interesting super fights for BJ Penn, but they’re at Featherweight. Assuming the fights would be on UFC PPV (of course), fights with Urijah Faber, Mike Brown, and Jose Aldo all have a certain appeal that rematches with guys like Joe Stevenson simply don’t. The fight with Aldo in particular could be huge in about a year if Aldo keeps up his success. Aldo isn’t a name yet, but he will be. Miguel Torres has spoken of moving up to 145 eventually; that’s another potential super fight.
Of course, this all hinges on whether BJ Penn can make 145. Joe Rogan seems to think he can, and judging by his physique I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility. Perhaps it would drain him a bit, but that would only make the fights a little more interesting. Who knows, in 2 years BJ Penn vs. Joe Warren could potentially be a huge fight.
Penn has always wanted to be the first guy to simultaneously hold two belts in the UFC. Perhaps this is the closest he could get. It would also shine attention on the WEC, which needs all the help it can get. If he can make the weight and alternate defenses, he could get more established and credible contenders each time out.
Of course, there’s always the option of just staying at 155 and dominating. But this is BJ Penn we’re talking about. We know he won’t do that. Another loss to St. Pierre could potentially be the end of his career, which is another reason to oppose the third fight. If we assume he will not stay put, and wants to be champion of two divisions, he’s better off at 145 and 155 than at 155 and 170.