Joe Rogan has named the one UFC champion who might have been able to put an end to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s dominant run.
The legendary former lightweight champion rarely even lost a round, much less a fight, during his 29-0 career which included winning UFC gold. During his time in the octagon, he brutalized the likes of Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje and Rafael Dos Anjos before retiring early in 2020.
However, there’s one ex-champion whose peak came years prior who Rogan believes might have been the man to end Nurmagomedov’s winning run. The pair were in the UFC at the same time, but by the time this legend was finished at the top level, the Russian was still on the climb.
Joe Rogan believes BJ Penn could have been the man to beat Khabib Nurmagomedov
Joe Rogan was on the call for a huge chunk of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s legendary career, and watched from cageside as he dominated some of the greatest of all time. He has always maintained the Russian’s greatness, and feels he is one of the best of all time in the sport.
However, he believes that had Khabib been forced to run into a prime BJ Penn during his days as world champion, there might have been a chance he was found out.
“During that run when BJ Penn beat up Diego and f—ed up Sean Sherk and Joe Stevenson, when he did that? That BJ Penn might be the baddest motherf—er alive,” Rogan said on the latest episode of his podcast with comedian Deric Poston.
“I would have liked to see that BJ Penn vs Khabib. That would have been f—ing crazy, and a lot of people think that is a ridiculous thing to say because Khabib was so dominant and BJ lost a bunch of times.
“I’m like ‘you’re right, an argument I accept’. He might not have beat him. Khabib might have taken him down and mauled him the same way Georges St-Pierre did, he might have; Khabib is a big guy especially for lightweight and his grappling skills are unparalleled.
“Khabib grapples and does fantastic with elite, world championship calibre amateur wrestlers. I’ve heard stories of him dominating guys in the gym who are elite wrestlers, that’s how good Khabib is and he might have been able to do that to BJ Penn. But BJ Penn might have got him too.”
Joe Rogan believes BJ Penn had potential to be UFC’s greatest of all time
Joe Rogan watched the rise, and fall, of BJ Penn’s career from cageside as the voice of the octagon for years. He believes that Hawaiian had potential to be the sport’s greatest ever, particularly when he was at his peak physical condition.
“He was training with the Marinoviches and he had an unstoppable gas tank,” Rogan continued. “He went and trained with Marv Marinovich this maniacal football coach with these radical training methods.
“All you did was strength and conditioning because you know how to fight, stop all this fight training. We’re just going to get you in the most insane shape possible. When they did that BJ Penn was unstoppable.
“If somebody could have corralled him, got him to stay with that guy then only train that way when he had world title fights, never f— off? Who knows, he could have been the GOAT.”
