2010 Bloody Elbow Reader Awards: Performance of the Year

Frankie Edgar Defeats B.J. Penn in Rematch

An important fact was overshadowed coming into the UFC 118 lightweight championship rematch between Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn. Amid all the talk of poor judging, sinus infection, motivation, and the sweltering Abu Dhabi heat, people seemed to forget that Frankie Edgar managed to make it through five rounds with Penn without looking like the overmatched and undersized fighter that he was expected to be.

Penn walked into UFC 112 lauded as the greatest 155-pound fighter in the short history of the sport. After losing to Matt Hughes at welterweight at UFC 63, Penn returned to the lightweight division in 2007 and rattled off five consecutive stoppage victories, picking up the UFC title that had eluded him for five years in the process. As a 7-1 favorite, it wasn’t “if” Penn defeated Edgar, it was “when,” “where,” and “how.”

So when the judges – including an especially bizarre 50-45 Edgar scorecard from Douglas Crosby – awarded Edgar a decision, it seemed to be an outrageous injustice to the order of the universe, and one that Penn would surely right in a rematch.

His initial performance reduced the line on Edgar to a more mild 5-2 underdog. It was still assumed that a B.J. Penn with proper motivation, conditioning, and sheltered from the elements would run through a Frankie Edgar who most felt put on the performance of his life in Abu Dhabi.

That notion quickly dissipated. Fifteen seconds after the opening bell, Edgar lifted Penn off the mat and dumped him on his back, showing a confidence in his skills and abilities that started to emerge in the final rounds in the first encounter. Penn threatened off his back and eventually returned to his feet only for Edgar to slam him down again en route to winning the round.

The fight continued in a familiar pattern: Penn would plod forward, Edgar would dash in with a combo, and Penn would try to counter before Edgar could bounce back out. By round three, Penn’s body language began showing signs of defeat. In round four, Edgar embarrassed Penn by escaping from his mount, standing up, and then sweeping with a cut kick. Only the most partisan of Penn fans had the Hawaiian winning even a single round through the first four frames.

Needing a finish, Penn worked for a takedown and put Edgar on his back with four minutes and thirty seconds left in the fight. By the four minute mark, Edgar had created a scramble and ended up on top inside of Penn’s guard. At that point, Edgar reduced Penn to a befuddled and impotent mess, and he erased the doubts that followed him from the desert wonderland.

Beating B.J. Penn wasn’t the impressive thing – B.J. came into the fight with six losses on his record. Beating B.J. Penn at lightweight wasn’t the impressive thing, either – he lost to Jens Pulver in 2002 in similar fashion to the controversy in Abu Dhabi. It was how Frankie Edgar beat B.J. Penn at lightweight that was impressive. Georges St. Pierre literally made Penn quit after four rounds in 2009, but St. Pierre fought Penn at welterweight with something close to a 20-pound weight advantage. For the first time in fifteen fights at lightweight, B.J. Penn had been mentally broken. And Frankie Edgar was the guy who did it.

Full results after the jump.