It has been more than a decade since BJ Penn, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion, made his professional debut and in that time he has built up a reputation as fearsome as any in mixed martial arts.
The American, who will defend his lightweight title for the fourth time at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi next month at UFC 112: Invincible against Frankie "The Answer" Edgar, is only the second fighter after Randy Couture to hold UFC titles in two weight categories. And having already successfully defended his title three times against formidable opponents Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez, Edgar, 28, is likely to have a tough task ahead of him.
"I always have fighting inside my head and heart," Penn says. "It is not constantly in my head that I am a champion or a UFC fighter. I forget about that. It is very important to other people, and I am glad to have the support, but fighting is my passion. It is what I like to do." Born to a father with English and Irish heritage, and a third generation Korean-American mother in December 1978 in Hilo, Hawaii, Penn is the youngest of four children, three of whom are called Jay Dee, while the fourth is named Reagan. It is his status as the youngest that resulted in the nickname "Baby Jay" or BJ.
Despite being the youngest of four boys he was, he insists, never much of a fighter. "I guess growing up, it was pretty much a normal life, as I got older I used to get into some fights but nothing unusual," he says. "My dad took us to a couple of karate classes when we were young but we didn't really get into it. My dad had been a black belt in judo but I never really cared about martial arts." As Penn got older, however, he started experimenting with boxing.
"There were a bunch of kids in the neighbourhood who used to come over and we would spar. We had a couple of pairs of boxing gloves, it just used to be friends on friends," says Penn, 31. When he was 17, fresh out of high school and with no clear career path ahead of him, Tom Callos, a sixth-degree taekwondo black belt, moved into the neighbourhood. On his first day in Hilo he placed leaflets around the area looking for judo and wrestling partners. Penn's father, also named Jay Dee, spotted one and called to say that his boys would be interested.
"Us kids would hang around the neighbourhood and he wanted some people to wrestle with," Penn recalls. "Finally we went down. He checked me out and that's when the bug started and I got addicted to jiu-jitsu." Callos, who had started learning jiu-jitsu 18 months earlier, began teaching what he knew to BJ, his brother Reagan, and their friends, a couple of times a week at the Waiakea Recreation Centre. A few months later Penn accompanied Callos to San Jose, California, "because he had some business to do" and was introduced to Ralph Gracie, Callos's former instructor.
"He [Gracie] saw that I could get somewhere and told Tom that," he says. "When I came home my father said, 'If you are not going to school, or working, in a couple of months, you are going to San Jose', and that time went by with me hanging around the house drinking beer. "My dad sent me out and said I should get my life together and go and do jiu-jitsu." Penn moved near to Gracie's gym in San Jose and two years later earned his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), a process that usually takes at least five years. He went on to win the 2000 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
"I thought it was cool but it was never going to be my life," he adds. "I wasn't born to be a UFC champion or a jiu-jitsu champion. If Tom had never moved to my neighbourhood it is hard to guess what I'd be doing." Penn met Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta, owners of the UFC, while they were BJJ students long before they took over the ailing brand. This meeting would later lead to Penn's entrance into the Octagon on May 24, 2001, as a lightweight at UFC 31, where he would finish Joey Gilbert four minutes into the first round with a technical knockout (TKO).
"They ended up buying UFC and I asked them to get me in," Penn says. "They pulled some strings, I was just going to try it one time, but the rest has become history." Penn went on to knock out the lightweights Din Thomas and Caol Uno before losing a championship bout to the then lightweight champion Jens Pulver. When Pulver later relinquished his title Penn fought Uno again for the vacant belt at UFC 41, a fight that ended in a draw and saw the lightweight division suspended.
In 2004 Penn moved up a weight division to beat Matt Hughes, the five-time defending UFC welterweight champion, who will also be on the card at Ferrari World on April 10. Penn left the UFC but returned in March 2006 as a welterweight, losing to Georges St Pierre, the current UFC welterweight champion, by a split decision. On January 19, 2008, Penn fought and beat the lightweight contender Joe Stevenson at UFC 80 to become the lightweight champion - a title he is still successfully defending.
"I didn't know it would take me this far," he says. "It keeps me in shape, I enjoy the training and I like the fact that there are so many moves to master, and they all go together a bit like a puzzle." Despite the UFC grossing more annual pay-per-view revenue than almost any other promotion, its fighters gracing the covers of umpteen magazines and live events selling out, Penn has shunned the celebrity lifestyle to stay in his hometown of Hilo surrounded by his friends and family.
"I don't know if it is important to me to live in Hilo, it is just very natural to me," he says. "That is where I feel safe or comfortable, I can let my guard down and know I will be safe. "Hilo is a small town. Most of the people I see are the people I went to school with, or I saw growing up. I get stopped in certain places but I spend most of my time in Hilo going to the gym and the grocery store."
His daily routine involves waking up, going to the gym for training and then "jumping in the water to cool off" before heading home, to watch television, "hang out and take it easy". "My life is very structured around training and when fighting is finished I have a few weeks to a month off and I like to take it easy and clear my head. I enjoy my life," he says. On October 25, 2008, Penn became a father to daughter Aeva Lili'u. Being a father, Penn says, has changed his perspective on fighting.
"At first being a father and a fighter was hard. I used to think that she is only one-and-a-half, maybe at first I didn't want to get hurt. Imagine if I got hurt really bad," he says. "My partner watches me fight but I would prefer for them to stay at home so I know the baby is safe and then I can concentrate. "When it comes to the fight there is nothing else to do. It can be dangerous if you don't focus 100 per cent on what you are planning to do."
Penn says he intends to continue fighting as long as he is winning. "If I am not winning and take too much abuse then maybe I would like to stop right there," he adds. "But then I have thoughts of fighting until I am 40 years old many times. I still don't know what I am going to do when I grow up." loatway@thenational.ae
Starting tomorrow you can follow BJ Penn's training schedule as he prepares to defend his UFC lightweight championship against Frankie "The Answer" Edgar in Abu Dhabi on April 10. Check www.thenational.ae/sport
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
If you go
The flights
Emirates (www.emirates.com) and Etihad (www.etihad.com) both fly direct to Bengaluru, with return fares from Dh 1240. From Bengaluru airport, Coorg is a five-hour drive by car.
The hotels
The Tamara (www.thetamara.com) is located inside a working coffee plantation and offers individual villas with sprawling views of the hills (tariff from Dh1,300, including taxes and breakfast).
When to go
Coorg is an all-year destination, with the peak season for travel extending from the cooler months between October and March.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
'Munich: The Edge of War'
Director: Christian Schwochow
Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE%3A
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THE%20SPECS
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
- Manifest cargo
- Excess luggage in the hold
- Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
All%20We%20Imagine%20as%20Light
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPayal%20Kapadia%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Kani%20Kusruti%2C%20Divya%20Prabha%2C%20Chhaya%20Kadam%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Meydan Racecourse racecard:
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes Listed (PA) | Dh175,000 | 1,900m
7.05pm: Maiden for 2-year-old fillies (TB) | Dh165,000 | 1,400m
7.40pm: The Dubai Creek Mile Listed (TB) | Dh265,000 | 1,600m
8.15pm: Maiden for 2-year-old colts (TB) | Dh165,000 | 1,600m
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) | Dh265,000 | 2,000m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh190,000 | 1,200m
10pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh190,000 | 1,600m.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Tips for avoiding trouble online
- Do not post incorrect information and beware of fake news
- Do not publish or repost racist or hate speech, yours or anyone else’s
- Do not incite violence and be careful how to phrase what you want to say
- Do not defame anyone. Have a difference of opinion with someone? Don’t attack them on social media
- Do not forget your children and monitor their online activities
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Jaguar F-Type Convertible
Price, base / as tested: Dh283,080 / Dh318,465
Engine: 2.0-litre inline four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 295hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 1,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.2L / 100km
