Will BJ Penn Be Stripped of the LW Belt?
by Annie83 on Mar 15, 2009 9:57 PM EDT
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PrintI was reading a fan post about BJ's complaint filling and one blogger noted that BJ should be stripped of his belt if he does not defend it within a year. That being said, it appears that BJ turned down a fight on the May UFC card to spend time with his family. However, the last time he defended the LW belt was in fact at UFC 84 against Sean Sherk May 24, 2008. Although we don't hear of many belt strippings, it has happend more than you might think. I've done some research and here is what I have come up with.
The UFC has stripped fighters for a few reasons.
- Contract disputes
- Injuries that would make it impossible for the champ to defend his title in 365 days (1 year)
- Retiring (although I believe that if a fighter retires, the title is vacant as opposed to stripped)
- If the fighter leaves the organisation
- If a fighter moves down in weight permanently (however, i believe this to also work sort of the same as a fighter retiring)
- Positive drug testing on banned substances by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC)
The belt stripping/vacating timeline goes a little something like this, according to www.UFC.Com
January 1998 - Randy Couture loses title via contract dispute
June 1999 - Bas Rutten moves down from HW and vacates the title.
November 1999 - Frank Shamrock retires, leaving the title vacated
March 2002 - Jens Pulver leaves the organisation and looses his title
March 2002 - Randy Couture is defeated by Josh Barnett for the LHW belt. However, Barnett tests positive for steroids and is disqualified.
October 2002 - Maurilo Bustamante leaves the organisation and looses his title
September 2003 - Tim Sylvia tests positive for steroids after defeating Dan McGee for the HW title. He appoligizes and gives up the title, rather than having it stripped, (six of one, half a dozen of the other if you ask me).
February 2004 - BJ Penn looses the WW title upon leaving the organisation. (side note, the fight in which he won the title was coinsidentally held on January 31, 2004)
2005 - Frank Mir is hurt badly in a motorcyle accident and is unable to defend his title in the 1 year timeframe.
December 2007 - Sean Sherk tests positive for Nandrolone-9 and is stripped of the LW title.
What does this all mean? It means that the UFC has taken away titles before, ten times in the last 11 years. If BJ refuses to fight within his one year of capturing the LW belt I would not be surprised if the UFC stripped him. If they didn't give Frank Mir an extension for a crash that should have killed him, there is no valid reason to give one to Penn, even if he does want to spend time with his new baby. A job is a job and if your a professional on the UFC level, you should fight anyone, anytime, anywhere.
Have Florian fight a top contender and give him the title shot he deserves. I'm not a Florian fan but the guy the has been waiting long enough. If BJ does not defend in May he should be stripped as others have been in the past. It is only fair.
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It should.
Just because BJ had delusions of welterweight grandeur shouldn’t mean an entire weight class has to put their feet up waiting for him to get back to them.
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
How very nice for Ken-Flo.
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
BJ should definitely be stripped, and Shinya Aoki should automatically be awarded the UFC Lightweight Belt.
Not with Aoki's magic pants.
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
posting it several times wont make it less true..
aoki wont be able to armbar those trex arms and he wont be able to chokeout his nonexistent neck.. sherk will hump his way to victory..
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 16, 2009 3:55 AM EDT up reply actions
Aoki would control Sherk from his back
If he could neutralize JZ who can actually hurt fighters with strikes, he can neutralize Sherk.
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 16, 2009 4:07 AM EDT up reply actions
even if that happens (which i think is unlikely) and he stays on his back the whole 15 mins and doesnt get a sub, you can always count on guys like cecil peoples to make the correct decision.. ;)
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 16, 2009 4:12 AM EDT up reply actions
I’d take Sherk in that fight as well. The key would be to use his wrestling in reverse, and keep Aoki at bay with his vastly improved striking.
However, i’d never rule out a Typical Aoki “Butt scoot- to guard pull- to submission.”
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
by ElliotMatheny on Mar 16, 2009 3:57 AM EDT up reply actions
Not a likely occurrence in the cage.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Mar 16, 2009 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions
Is Aoki allowed to take Sherk's 'supplements'?
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
lol at BJ should be stripped because it is only fair.
Let me know when the UFC strips a guy who was part of one of their biggest ppvs ever, during that 1 year period.
Also, the UFC has a great track record for doing what is fair and not what is in their best business interest, much like most successful companies.
If you're not submitting, you're just rolling around with another guy.
I can't believe I just read this
UFC puts being fair over what is best for business? Are you talking about UFC the MMA promotion?
Well this certainly would make WAMMA correct
BJ couldn’t be their champion because he won’t ever fight LW’s. They knew this before we all did. All-wise and all-knowing sanctioning body… we humbly grovel at your feet and thirst for your knowledge
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 16, 2009 4:09 AM EDT up reply actions
wamma would still be dumb cause they wont give the belt to anyone that's in the UFC..
i’d be okay with them crowning aoki but they should do the same for zuffa fighters.. let them start with crowning the winner of evans/machida.. if they continue ignoring fights that are #1 vs #2 in their rankings just because its from zuffa, then they’re just leeches so fuck them..
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 16, 2009 4:16 AM EDT up reply actions
Machida will win against Evans
And the UFC will still make him take another fight to get a shot at the title. So WAMMA and UFC will both have uncrowned LHW champs.
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 16, 2009 4:19 AM EDT up reply actions
what the hell are you talking about?
if machida wins then he IS the champ.. evans is the champion and machida is getting his title shot.. why would they have both “uncrowned champs” if machida wins?
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 16, 2009 5:04 AM EDT up reply actions
Obviously you didn't catch my joke
He can win the championship – and the UFC will still somehow find a way to try and put somebody else in that championship slot. Machida is starting to draw. But to Ultimate Fighting fans hes boring because he “runs”
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 16, 2009 6:09 AM EDT up reply actions
That wouldn’t work because the UFC won’t cross promote. That means that once a WAMMA title goes to a UFC fighter, it will never leave the organization unless it is stripped. Eventually the UFC would have all the belts and they would be pointless
by EazyEismydad on Mar 16, 2009 4:58 AM EDT up reply actions
dream didnt copromote with wamma but they still crowned aoki..
i havent seen aoki wear the belt or even recognize wamma.. Why cant they do the same for the UFC? even if machida/evans dont wear the wamma belt, they should still consider him their “champ”..
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 16, 2009 5:01 AM EDT up reply actions
^ this will get no response because there is none
by Derek Suboticki on Mar 16, 2009 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions
You are unclear about a few things. WAMMA is not a fighting organization so there is no copromoting with them. They are pretty much just a website with a group of people that vote on rankings and try to make it seem official.
Dream copromotes a lot with just about anyone and is therefore perfect for WAMMA.
As for recognizing the belt, Aoki does wear it and it was a big deal at the Alvarez/Aoki fight.
Your answer still does not solve the problem that once a UFC fighter becomes the WAMMA champ, no one from outside the organization will be able to fight them. If you give A Silva the MW belt then if Laites beats him by freak accident he is the WAMMA champ rather than Lawler or Mousasi or someone else outside the UFC who is a true top contender
by EazyEismydad on Mar 16, 2009 6:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, according to WAMMA’s logic it doesn’t matter if the guy who beats the champ is ranked #2 or #200, he becomes the WAMMA champ, so it wouldn’t matter if Leites beats him and Anderson is the WAMMA champ (theroetically) then Leites becomes the new WAMMA champ. If the #1 guy is in the UFC then he should be the champ, it doesn’t matter who he can and can’t fight.
1. show me a pic of aoki and the belt..
2. wamma’s goal is to crown the “LEGIT” and undisputed champions in every weightclass.. But if they just crown people from outside the UFC, then they are just crowning the Best fighters not in the UFC..
3. Wamma even said that if robbie lawler vs matt lindland happened they’d consider crowning him undisputed middleweight champ… now if that isnt stupid..
4. did you even read brents several articles about them? everything is clearly shown there and i dont need to explain them further…
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 17, 2009 12:37 AM EDT up reply actions
The only way I see BJ getting stripped of the belt is if he’s ditched by Zuffa, which I consider rather unlikely.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
If he insists on GSP being suspended...
… I could see Dana bitchslapping him to elsewhere, totally.
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
You forgot Matt Serra
Who could not defend his title within a year due to an injury. He was NOT stripped, so it is clear the UFC makes special cases. In this case since BJ just had a megafight for them, and the fact that Kenflo said he’s cool with waiting, I’m sure they will let it slide.
As I stated in the article, the info i got was according to UFC.com
Matt Serra fought GSP april 7th, 2007 and won. He was slated for Hughes but he did get ibnjured and then i believe Hughes was injured which is why Serra fought GSP for a rematch april 19 2008 .Because he fought at the UFC in April it may have been 1 year, 1 week and 3 days, but he could only fight when the ufc has a card so I think that the less than 2 week extension is reasonable.
Couture (second time) anyone?
He was out for over a year AND was fighting with the UFC in court and they didn’t strip him. Also, if you look only at strips in the Zuffa era, they were all for steroids or leaving the organization, except for Mir’s nearly career ending injury that sidelined him for ~18 months. At worst they’ll do the same thing and crown an interim champ.
http://www.mma-collective.com/
To be fair, I think there were legal implications if they stripped Randy. In other words it would have strengthened his case against them.
If you're not submitting, you're just rolling around with another guy.
And they did go all 'interim title' on his ass.
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
People forget about Mir.
They didn’t strip him on the 1 year anniversary. They gave him an extension, and they didn’t strip him until he had to pull out of a scheduled title match that he already agreed to. This is a different situation. BJ has never agreed to defend the belt yet. It sucks, but that’s the way it was.
I doubt it. He’s the biggest money maker at 155 so unless they find another guy that can sell PPV’s like BJ, I thik they will put up with his BS.
<-- would pay to watch Florian over BJ.
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
Punk ass Penn
Here’s what the fight deal should be if Penn/Pierre meet again. Pierre should say ok, I"ll fight you free and if you win, you get money and the belt but if I win, Pierre wins, Penn retires.
Yeah, but nobody every really stays retired so it would be cool. Plus when he comes back a year later BJ could come out of the stands out of nowhere and lay out GSP to set up Penn-GSP IV!
And then the loser could get a shaved head!
Oh wait..
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
I’d be willing to bet they’d crown an interim champion rather than just strip him of the belt. It’s kinda hard to hold not defending the title against him when it was the UFC that asked him to move up in weight to fight GSP.
An I Quite Match
Well, it’s not a bad idea just because BJ talks so much crap. No one would have paid any attention to this whole fight (outside the great supposed matchup) if BJ hadn’t had his boys sitting around him in those before fight specials talking so badly about Pierre. Pierre never once responded (except for the rich boy quip) to BJs pisspoor attitude. If he would have just shut up people would have said, hey he really needs to be in the light weight cat. But he talked and brought this whole mess on himself.
As for the WWE story line, it’s Dana bringing over the wrestlers. Brock getting a shot and holding the title is a bunch of BS. Champ with a 3 & 1 record.
Theres more than thing wrong with your post. The interview with BJ NEVER HAPPENED if you check the article now their is an update aplogizing for it being posted. Also, he is allowed to go over a year without defending it because Dana approved him fighting GSP so it’s not like he has’nt fought in a year. Also I’m not the best speller myself but damn your terrible you typed “loose” for lose about 6 times among other mistakes!
They have already said they WON'T and there will be NO interm title
He and Kenflo will fight late summer
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