Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

B.J. Penn seems to have been born without the basic emotion of fear. Or at least, his sense of adventure and challenge is so great that he is able to push it aside and press forward. Penn’s belief in facing down challenges is such that he has routinely crossed weight classes and drove UFC President Dana White crazy in trying to get him to focus on the task at hand instead of excitedly looking forward to what lies ahead.

But as the 29-year-old begins to understand he doesn’t have forever to leave a legacy, his maturity has seemingly caught up with the staggering talent that earned him the nickname “the Prodigy.”

The current UFC lightweight champ takes another step towards forever imprinting himself as an all-time great when he moves up to welterweight to take on champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94 on Jan. 31, 2008.

“When I was 22, I wanted to be the lightweight champion of the world,” Penn said. “Now that I’m almost 30, I want to be the best ever.”

Penn and St. Pierre have fought once before. In March 2006, the two squared off in bout to determine the No. 1 contender in the 170-pound division. The three-round fight was closely contested, but when it was over, St. Pierre emerged with a tight split-decision win. Ironically, Penn went on to replace GSP as the welterweight title challenger after St. Pierre was injured in training. In his title match with Matt Hughes, Penn was stopped for the first time, losing by third-round TKO.

Even that loss, however, did not get Penn in a contemplative mood. Ironically, it was on a day that would normally be cause for celebration that Penn finally began to ruminate about where he was, and where he was going.

“It was the fact that I turned 28 years old,” he said. “It was on my birthday. [I’m thinking] ‘What am I doing? Why I am wasting my time?’ I got more fans than I ever had after losing to Matt Hughes. I realized I was still in a great position. Why not get up and try? I didn’t want to be the guy who said, ‘I could’ve done this or I could’ve done that.’ I want to be the guy to know it if I could or couldn’t. And I’ll find out on Jan. 31.”

Penn was always known as a gifted learner, blazing to his jiu-jitsu black belt in just 3 ½ years. But since that loss to Hughes, Penn retooled other parts of his life that affected what he did in the cage. His first move was to restructure his training and dieting programs to make sure he had the energy and strength to go all-out for as long as necessary. He dialed back his training a bit to make sure he was fresh when it truly counted. And since then, Penn has won three straight in convincing fashion.

In his comeback fight, he overwhelmed Jens Pulver with a second-round submission. Then, he captured the title with another second-round submission, this time over Joe Stevenson, and finally, he became only the second man ever to knock out Sean Sherk, accomplishing the feat in May.

In December, Penn will turn 30, and St. Pierre is aware that the man he will be fighting in January is not the same one he faced in ’06.

“If you ask somebody who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, a lot of people would say BJ Penn,” he said. “So for me, it’s a great challenge. When you’re a champion in a weight class, you have to fix your goals even higher. I don’t want to fight to be a champion anymore, because I’m already a champion. I want to fight to be a legend in the sport. And that’s what this fight will give me.”

Penn has the same idea. He says it’s not so much about exacting revenge as it is about establishing his place in the pantheon.

“Even if me and GSP had never fought before, I’d still want to test the waters and fight the competition,” he said. “Everybody out there says he’s the best in the world. Forget the first fight, I want to fight up. I want to fight the best in the world.”

Weight-class has never been a concern for Penn. He’s fought competitors as heavy as 205 lbs (in that 2005 bout he lost a close decision to unbeaten UFC light-heavyweight Lyoto Machida). Weight-class has not been a concern, but weight has. And after returning to the lightweight division, and paying strict attention to his diet and conditioning, there is a question of whether Penn can fight at 170 without sacrificing one or the other.

But in a bit of pre-fight gamesmanship, Penn says it will only be a factor for GSP to have to figure out.

“I get asked that question, ‘How are you going to put the weight back on?’” he said. “The answer is, I’m not going by weight, I’m going by bodyfat. I’m going to walk in at nine percent bodyfat for this fight. And whatever weight that falls on, that’s for me to know and Georges to find out. Whether he’s fighting a fast guy at 165 pounds, or whether he’s fighting a slower, stronger BJ at 175 pounds, those questions will be answered on weigh-in day.”

At any rate, St. Pierre, who cuts down from around 185 pounds to make the limit, will have a significant size advantage as well as the confidence of knowing he got the better of Penn the first time around.

But for Penn, that’s hardly a factor. His basic ideology on jiu-jitsu makes it a fundamental belief in his mind that a small man with the right plan can beat a bigger one. And even deeper in his mind, he is buoyed by the conviction that he is not merely facing GSP, he is facing destiny.

“Once you win the title and accomplish so many things in the fight business, then it becomes about legendary status, making your mark,” said UFC President Dana White. “The problem I always had with BJ is trying to contain this kid. Trying to keep him focused on staying at 155 and defending his title. He’s been doing that, and now’s the time. Now’s a great time.”

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