B.J. Penn is the greatest MMA Lightweight of all time.
You, the Bloody Elbow community have spoken, and you have declared Penn the greatest. He defeated Ben Henderson in the finals by a score of 65-34. Let’s take a look at the Prodigy’s run to the title:
Round 1: def. JZ Cavalcante, 47-2
Round 2: def. Jens Pulver, 50-3
Round 3: def. Takanori Gomi, 42-3
Semifinals: def. Rafael dos Anjos, 47-30
Finals: def. Ben Henderson, 65-34
There it is. Domination for three rounds, then a pair of still clear, but closer wins. Penn ends things licking the blood of 3 former UFC champions and some of the clear cut all time greats off his hands. Well done Baby Jay.
For what it’s worth, in our previous tournaments, Penn was eliminated by Jose Aldo in the 2nd round of our GOAT tournament, by Junior dos Santos in the opening round of our striker tournament, and by Kazushi Sakuraba in the Elite 8 in our submission fighter tournament.
Congrats also go out to Ben Henderson, who finishes in 2nd place, and Frankie Edgar, who takes home 3rd.
With this, we wrap up our first BE’s Baddest division tournament. Thanks to all the members of the BE community who took part – some great conversation to be had this tournament. And thanks to June M. Williams – our graphics guru and my partner in crime on this project.
We’ll be running through the divisions in the coming months – next up is Light Heavyweight. Keep your eyes open there, and start thinking of your nominees.
Final tournament bracket (click to enlarge):
BE Baddest Lightweight Full Bracket
Tournament graphics provided by June M. Williams.
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