Penn weighs in at 166-169 lbs without cutting any weight. He is in the best shape of his life. GSP weighs in at 170-170 1/2 and is what he always is, a huge 170 in phenomenal shape. The stare down is even more intense on Penn’s part than the Sherk fight, but GSP smiles it off.

Round 1: They come out and touch gloves. GSP circles away while Penn stalks him. Penn works his jab while GSP fires off leg kicks. Both are somewhat successful but no telling damage is done in the first minute or so.

GSP ducks a straight right from Penn and shoots. Penn does that triangle position with his leg and defends the takedown, but GSP backs him against the cage with his momentum. Penn circles away immediately and fires off a couple strikes. It opens a minor cut below GSP’s eye.

GSP regroups and ratchets the pace up a notch. He fires off some head kicks which just miss doing some real damage. Penn stays in the pocket and they trade. GSP lands a good hook, but Penn actually advances after it and they clinch. Penn tries to trip him but GSP maintains his balance.

The round winds down with neither able to score a takedown or do significant striking damage. GSP has a small cut, but otherwise the round was very even. Penn takes it due to the cut on two of three scorecards. The other judge gives it to GSP for landing the hook later in the round.

Round 2: GSP comes out like he’s all about striking for the first few moments, but then transitions into an all out bid for a takedown. Penn holds him off with incredible displays of balance but GSP is relentless and he gets the takedown. Penn pulls rubber guard immediately. GSP tries to work his GnP from inside Penn’s guard but he does little to no damage. Penn attempts a triangle choke but GSP gets out of it and he stands up. Big surprise, he wants no part of Penn’s guard. Penn stands up and they resume their striking battle.

Penn looks less fresh than GSP but it is nothing particularly telling. GSP fires off kicks to the legs and head. Penn checks most of the leg kicks and avoids anything upstairs. Penn’s jab finds a home a couple times but nothing significant opens up for him there. GSP goes for a spinning back kick. Penn grabs his leg and takes him down.

Penn tries to hold GSP down and inflict some damage. GSP avoids anything severe and explodes up after less than a minute. In the final moments of the round, GSP scores another takedown, but Penn reverses it in the last seconds as the crowd goes wild.

Penn gets the round on two of three cards. The other judge gives it to GSP for the extra takedown.

Round 3: Penn is breathing heavier but not looking gassed. GSP looks more winded than usual but is definitely the fresher of the two. The round starts slower than the first two. They circle for awhile trading blows. Penn has the more effective jab, GSP the more effective leg kicks. After a straight right finds its mark Penn advances, looking to put GSP away. It doesn’t happen and GSP takes him down.

GSP holds Penn down for the bulk of the round by doing enough work to stay busy and not get stood up right away. Penn doesn’t find any openings for a sub, though he avoids much damage. GSP lands some knees when he transitions to side control. Penn gets him back in his guard and they get stood up in the last 30 seconds. Penn looks a tired but GSP is cautious and doesn’t rush him in the stand up.

The round ends as they circle each other and GSP gets it on all three cards.

Round 4: Penn comes out all business for the forth round. He’s still got gas in the tank, just not as much as GSP. But he’s not messing around and after landing a couple solid shots GSP wants no part of the stand up.

They clinch and GSP backs him up to the cage. GSP picks him up and slams him to the mat. The crowd goes nuts. But as GSP tries to mount Penn reverses him and takes his back. GSP tries to scramble away but Penn has his legs locked around GSP’s mid section and is applying the pressure. GSP defends the RNC well at first while Penn fires off shots to the side of his head. Penn tries to use his leg to hold down one of GSP’s arms. GSP’s scrambles out and reverses him. Penn pulls instant guard. GSP rains down a couple blows but Penn grabs his arm and locks in a triangle choke.

GSP taps out with less than a minute remaining.

Penn is declared the number 1 pound for pound fighter in the world by many, though Anderson Silva is right there.

Talk about BJ fighting Anderson begins immediately.

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GSP is one-dimensional now because he knows what his bread and butter is. He was out struck by Penn and he was out struck and KOed by Serra. GSP’s kryptonite is the stand up game and anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional. GSP 2.0 is a better version of Matt Hughes. He’s good, but he’s not the multi-dimensional fighter than so many people believe him to be. His fans need to stop crediting him with qualities he doesn’t possess.

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What? Are you serious? There’s no point in arguing since you obviously see something no one sees.

– just because they weren’t standing the whole time doesn’t mean there wasn’t a “stand up game” to be won. GSP clearly got the better of EVERY exchange during the 2nd serra fight – even if it was just the repeated jabs in the middle of the 2nd round. Serra had his hands at his waist because he was so fatigued (from the up/down pace GSP set). Serra landed nothing except for that attempted flurry in the 2nd – little of which actually touched GSP.

– do you really think that one could argue Serra won the “stand up game” in the 2nd fight? my friend if you think that, then you see something no one else does. just because it wasn’t a kickboxing match doesn’t mean anything – the few exchanges they had GSP very clearly won.

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Patently false. GSP beat Koscheck at his own game…wrestling.

GSP won the standup against Serra in their 2nd fight.

What? Are you serious? There’s no point in arguing since you obviously see something no one sees.

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This is one of the biggest exaggerations from that fight that continues to be perpetuated by ardent Penn supporters.

GSP went to the hospital because he had his eye poked by Penn and was blinded for most of the first round. Given that having good vision is a pretty important trait for a pro fighter, going to the hospital to make sure you don’t need surgery on your eye is anything but a big deal. Somehow, Penn fans make it seem like it was some great feat that GSP went to the hospital to get his eye checked due to an eye poke.

In addition, GSP landed more overall strikes than Penn in that fight, due to the multitude of kicks he landed.

“GSP will do better against Penn now, but basically because he refuses to strike with anyone. I doubt he’ll decide to use his stand-up again on a guy who damaged him so badly last time.”

This is another absurd claim. GSP stood with Koscheck the entire 3rd round and picked Kos apart standing until Kos shot for a TD. GSP won the standup against Serra in their 2nd fight. Just because he mixes up his TDs and ground game with his standup doesn’t mean he won’t stand up. If his opponents could stop his takedowns or his guard passes or GNP, maybe they would last long enough for GSP to show his striking in Rd 3, 4 or 5.

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BJ has way better striking, the only thing GSP has on him is better kicks. But last time BJ basically won the striking portion of the match decisively, he sent GSP to the hospital that night from all the damage he did to his face.

GSP will do better against Penn now, but basically because he refuses to strike with anyone. I doubt he’ll decide to use his stand-up again on a guy who damaged him so badly last time.

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GSP was doing fine on his feet in their fight until he got poked in the eye. Even after that he was landing leg kicks and jabs on Penn, but Penn must have cowhide for skin because he doesn’t seem to ever show damage. He also jacked GSPs nose with an uppercut which was more superficial damage (I actually noticed it looked like Penn used the same combo to put Sherk on the fence for the knee, except the punch connected).

He has only been using strikes to set up the takedown or the takedown threat to set up strikes because no one has been able to handle his top control and guard passing so why wouldn’t he stick with it?

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