Dude, in my opinion, your scenario of him drinking too much and hitting the cop is most likely true. And to be honest I think he's guilty as charged. So, in essence, we're on the same side. But the thing was, I was letting you know that although it is true, as you've mentioned that 9 out of 10 times, people stay and cheer as a fight goes on in clubs and bars and whatever, there are people, like my friend, who does run. And if you think I'm making him up, his name is Juan LaFonta. He is currently in the House of Representative for the state of Louisiana (check him out: Juan LaFonta ). He worked as a bouncer while studying for his law degree. He's a really tough guy, grew up near the projects. But whenever a fight's about to start in a club, he runs like a sprinter outta there. Nice chatting with you, buddy . Hope BJ Penn will be out soon enough to fight my Judo idol, Karo Parisyan.
The officer got back up and chased Penn and tackled him and was pulled off by a group of men So the officer in question has openly admitted to being pulled off in public? Sounds like he's the one who needs locking up
Huh? I thought by pulled off the article meant that the officer tackeled him down in an effort to apprehend him (and not to beat him up) and the rest of the crowd pulled the officer off of Penn in an effort to stop the officer from arresting him. Please educate me if I'm wrong . Also, what's up with all this hate going on about the "rich boy" BJ Penn. I could have swore I read that he was a nice, humble guy. Then again, I've been a Pride fan for a while and didn't learn about BJ Penn until I heard that Matt Hughes was going to fight Royce Gracie and that one of the few guys who's ever beat Matt Hughes is BJ Penn. So, I want y'all's honest opinion: Is BJ Penn a nice guy (i.e. doesn't get drunk and start fights and is very humble and none of the "I can beat everyone up" attitude that Matt Hughes and Alister (sp?) Overeem has) or is he a bad boy (Phil Baroni ... need I add more?)
Pulled off is UK slang (possibly used in other countries) for a thing men sometimes do when they're alone No one here actually knows BJ Penn so we won't be able to give you a definite answer on that. He's not always in the MMA news sites for starting fights etc, so I'm leaning towards probably not that much of a bad guy
Very few cops can run down a pro MMA fighter. I also think if BJ wanted to escape he would have. Like some cop could hold down someone who's that skilled at jiu-jitsu. The police in my area are all overweight men in their 40s with 2 weeks of police academy fight training. I don't beleive the cop.
True, the chances an average cop could hold down BJ Penn are very low. Even if he was drunk he is still a beast.
Well, there are a lot of variables to consider here. For example, I know you've heard of the case about the congresswoman assaulting a security officer. Based on what I've heard, all she did was slap him on the shoulder. Although that is technically assault, we usually think of assault as in a punch that results in a broken nose or a black eye. So, maybe all BJ Penn did was swing wildly at the cop and his fist just grazed the cop's eye (cause we all know the cop would have been KO'ed if BJ Penn attacked with all his potential). Also, how do you define running? BJ Penn swings at the cop, then takes one step forward to flee before the cop jumps on him? So, the cop maybe technically right, it's just the scenario is not conventional. In other words, when the cop says Penn ran, he might not have meant that Penn ran for two blocks with the cop tailing him and finally catching up to him. Instead, Penn may have just been posed to flee. And, like I said before, conventionally an assault results in some type of damage, but maybe Penn just grazed him and the cop described it as assault (since, technically, that's what it was). Also, I do know a cop who's got a bench press of 425 pounds, and warms up by deadlifting nearly 400 pounds (his one rep max in deadlifting is 720 pounds!). So, once again, lots of variables involved.
I saw him in a fight on TV last night, and the idea that (a) he would swing wildly at somebody, (b) hit them from the blindside, and (c) do so without knocking them out seems ludicrous to me. (Of course, like the rest of us, I wasn't there!)
Then, we're back at my second point: what was the cop like? Don't forget, Mirkro Cro Cop is a Russian police officer. That ninja guy, Steve Jennum, who took out the boxing expert Melton Bowen in UFC 4 was also a cop. Also, the UFC ref, Big John McCarthy, if I'm not mistakening, is also a former cop. I also heard of a cop by the name of Sean Gannon in the UFC. Additionally, I personally know two cops who can dance with some of the UFC fighters. One of these guys is Sensei Jack Garrett (check him out here), who trained Frank Shamrock for his Battle of the Bayou fight. Jack is a deputy sherriff for Jefferson Parish in the state of Louisiana. The other is Officer Mark Stanley, a Muay Thai expert and a Shooto wrestling expert. He's with the Atlanta police.
No one said it was impossible, it is however highly improbable. If i were the jury I'd make the cop hold BJ down long enough to make the arrest and if he can't do it Penn goes free.
Absolutely, never said it was impossible but the odds that this cop could do what he claimed are pretty low.
Yes, there is no way a cop could take down and control a sober BJ Penn. Then how could the cop have arrested him to begin with? Throw enough beers into Fedor and I bet a decent sober fighter could man handle him. I know when I got a few long islands in me or a few beers my technique goes down the crapper. Is BJ Penn immune to alchohol now? Very rarely can a cop run down a professional athlete, very rarely can a cop take one down and manage to arrest him. Unless he's drunk to begin with Which judging by circumstances he was. He didn't swing wildy at someone he didn't know and it just happened to be a cop. Read this article on it. http://starbulletin.com/2005/05/25/news/briefs.html Apparently the cop used pepper spray on Penn and the crowd earlier to get them to disperse. The crowd did and Penn took off in a car. He then came back on foot and sucker punched the cop. Doesn't sound like something a sober man would do. If he was sober he's really stupid to think he can get away with punching a uniformed cop. I'm not buying it's the 15 year HPD officer who is lying/wrong viewpoint. You do the crime, you do the time and if this is true then you can say bye bye to Penn for 5 years. Sorry but crap like this is something the sport can do without. Some people think I'm a violent guy when I tell them I do martial arts. It's stuff like this that causes that reaction.
Firstly, I'd like to ask that everyone please remember that this is an academic argument only. I enjoy engaging in such discussion because it causes me to examine points of views that I have never previously considered. The reason why I'm mentioning this is I'm starting to see some tempers flaring. When I tell people that I'm a martial artist, I, too, sometimes get the impression that people feel that I'll blow at any moment and start assaulting people with punches and kicks. However, in light of this, one should at least consider the probability that the BJ Penn scenario has been blown out of proportion. Once again, I'm not saying that this is what happened. But, for the purpose of an academic discussion, let's say that this is what might have happened simply because he is a top ranked MMA athlete. Let's take a look at two real life examples of how scenarios can be blown out of proportion and you decide for yourselves whether or not that the possibility exists in BJ Penn's case. CASE STUDY #1. As a high school wrestler is walking home from school, he is confronted by three bullies. One of them, the ring leader, is holding a chain. The ring leader demands the wrestler for his money because he has to pay to cross into their property (even though the wrestler was walking on a very public street). The wrestler basically said "screw you." The ring leader swung the chain. Instinctively, the wrestler shot for a double leg takedown. The wrestler has the ring leader pinned. The other two bullies are stunned and just stood there and watched. The ring leader started hitting the wrestler with the chain. The wrestler started gouging the ring leader's eyes with his thumbs while demanding the ring leader to drop the chain. The ring leader continued swinging while the wrestler continued exerting increasing pressure onto the ring leader's eyes. Finally, the ring leader was in so much pain that he dropped the chain. The wrestler went home. Hours later, the cops arrested the wrestler for aggravated assault. The ring leader is now blind for life. In court, the prosecutor painted the wrestler as a very violent high schooler, provoking the bullies to attack him so that he can engage in a streetfight. The prosecutor's proof? The wrestler is a HUGH fan of the UFC. The prosecutor showed the court some of the most violent scenes from UFC 2 and UFC 3. By the way, this happened around 1996, where UFC was not that popular, yet. The court sentenced the wrestler to one year in a juvenile corrections facility. Obviously, the wrestler was doing little more than defending himself. Yet, the prosecutor convinced the court otherwise. CASE STUDY #2. This case has nothing to do with fighting. In fact, it involves the incredibly beautiful Eva Longoria. Witnesses report that Eva arrived at a club, saw a long line, and walked straight to the front of the line. The security guard told her to get to the end of the line. Eva responds with something to the effect of "I'm Eva Longoria! Let me in!" When security adamantly refuses, Eva gets ticked off and leaves the club. However, when people in front of the line (those who were actually close enough to actually hear the conversation that transpired) was questioned, this was the account they gave. Eva went to the security guard to inquire about how many people were inside the club. The guard quoted a big number. Eva responded with something like, "that many? really?" The guard nodded yes and Eva said, "well, that's too many ... I'll come back another time ... thanks." And she leaves in disappointment. However, the former version of the account is MUCH more popular on radio stations and online. When you're a celebrity like Eva Longoria is, people like to twist stories cause twisted stories are juicier to read. Once again, before I have idiots calling me an idiot and such, I AM NOT SAYING THAT BJ PENN IS INNOCENT! I only ask that you all consider alternate scenarios. The cases I quoted above are real. If it can happen to them, it can happen to BJ Penn. For those of you arguing about probability ... If I told you something about three vampires breaking into an old woman's home, killing the woman and drinking her blood, what's your first reaction gonna be? "What movie did you see that in?" This happened in Florida a few years back. Three teens who believed that they were vampires broke into the home of an 80 (I think she was 80) year old woman, killed her, slit her arms and began feasting on her. All three teens have been arrested. Trust me, TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION.
Guys, this event happened over a year ago - I think if Penn had been found guilty, he'd be in jail by now, not fighting in the UFC, don't you?
You raise an interesting point, while he has not been found guilty that doesn't mean the case is closed. Or even that it has been tried yet, it takes an ungodly amount of time for crimes to be prosecuted .
