The Guard Passing That Broke BJ Penn

"Nothing good will happen for you as long as you're in the bottom side-control position, so you must do what it takes to escape."

-- BJ Penn, "The Book of Knowledge", page 238

I knew once St. Pierre had fully passed BJ's guard into side control and was able to hold the position for prolonged periods of time with a variety of scarf ties and belly down hip control that the fight was over. They could've called it right at that moment. In all of my pre-fight anxiety about making a selection about who would win this fight I never once considered St. Pierre would pass Penn's guard with such ease and be able to work effectively from side control.

Like the vast majority of elite grapplers, Penn has a healthy respect for the fundamentals. In his interviews and in his book especially, Penn emphasizes beyond the point of necessity that you must never let your guard get passed. In simple and sober terms, your chances of winning decrease the more your guard gets passed. There are obviously caveats, but the lesson is clear about maintaining proper defense as well as frustrating your opposition by nullifying attacks with a strong protective guard. Blocking the pass for Penn is as much about protection and as it is pride.

As St. Pierre (routinely) passed Penn's guard, he was telling Penn the fight was over. There was nothing Penn could do at that point except not get finished. He was breaking Penn in the one area of the fight game where Penn truly thought he couldn't be touched. Relying on jiu-jitsu was the fail safe on any gameplan gone awry. Penn even emphasizes in his book that one must never lose site of their specialty: if you're a jiu-jitsu stylist, you need to learn all parts of the game but focus in on strengths. For Penn to lose his best weapon against a man he believed could be defeated by matter of procedure was enough to break him.

And the specifics of St. Pierre's guard passing make the effort look even more deliberate to mentally hurt Penn. Not only did he work the right knee tap takedown he uses so often, but he utilized it to pass to the right into half guard (normally St. Pierre passes to the left with the takedown). He never gave Penn a chance to really slide the knee against St. Pierre's hips. He also used more MMA punch-and-pass techniques as well. On MMA or sport submission wrestling terms, St. Pierre incorporated a diverse arsenal of passing techniques that essentially nullified any ability of Penn to fight off of his back or properly defend himself. If we add that he also functionally used his weight with his top control and passing, the picture becomes even more somber for Penn.

St. Pierre's message to the MMA world last night was that he hadn't peaked yet. He knew he hadn't reached his limits even though many of us never saw him being able to improve his MMA and BJJ enough to pass the more than formidable guard of Penn. And that really shows a difference in the attitude of the two men. Penn always adopted a messaniac quality to this fight. He always believed the talent was there to put St. Pierre away and that if he added the cardio to his skillset that beating anyone was a foregone conclusion. It became a matter of procedure. So while Penn was clearly motivated for this fight, one has to wonder if the belief that glory was inevitable gave him a false confidence about his output in the training room (even over the course of a few years). St. Pierre may also understand his abilities are considerable, but he seems to be exploring fight forecasting and theorization like a devoted scientist enamored with an idea. When you combine that curiosity with near peerless athleticism, you can often produce some amazing results.