BJ Penn spent the run-up to his UFC 94 fight with Georges St Pierre talking tough: He took every opportunity to claim St. Pierre is a pretty boy who couldn't hang with a real man like him.
So just how much credibility does Penn lose now? Not only did St. Pierre whip him, but Penn responded by going to the Nevada State Athletic Commission with complaints about St. Pierre -- and he brought his mommy with him to the Commission meeting.
A lot of MMA fans are scoffing at Penn now. I'm getting e-mails from fans along the lines of what was said at Sherdog and Fight Linker: "BJ Penn is a warrior who will fight you to the death....as long as he has his mommy with him."
I also think Penn has lost a lot of respect in the MMA community because of the presence of his mom at Tuesday's Commission hearing. I have nothing against Penn's mother, Lorraine Shin, but I don't think it was her place to appear at the meeting, and I think it makes Penn look weak that he brought his mom along to fight his battles for him. I expect Penn, who is taking his sweet old time about giving Kenny Florian a lightweight title shot, to face a harsh reaction from the fans when he finally fights again.
And yet I also think Penn made some good points at the Nevada State Athletic Commission. In the above video he says that he just wants fights to be fair and safe, and that's reasonable. Penn was highly critical of his previous opponent, Sean Sherk, for using steroids, and I can't blame Penn for that at all. I just feel like the way Penn has gone about this GreaseGate crusade, he's made himself look worse than St. Pierre.
More videos from Tuesday's Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting are below. Here's Penn's lawyer, Raffi Nahabedian, addressing the Nevada Commission:
And here's St. Pierre's cornerman, Phil Nurse, explaining his actions:
Videos via Steve Cofield of Cage Writer.