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The question is, if Penn beats Sanchez at UFC 107 in Memphis on Saturday – as most experts fully expect – will it make him happy?
The Hawaiian fighter has always aspired to greatness. We're talking historic greatness, not just everyday, run-of-the-mill, dominate-your-weight-class greatness. In the past, however, he hasn’t appeared 100 percent sure of how to obtain it.
Penn's vision quest is well known to MMA fans. He quarreled with the UFC in 2003-04 and spent most of the next year fighting at home and in Japan, taking on guys well outside his natural weight in an effort to establish himself as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
That desire didn't dissipate once the UFC invited him back into the fold. His recent history with the company has been typified by the notion that GSP was the "Foreman" to his "Ali." That they would meet in a series of titanic battles that would once and for all rocket Penn into the stratosphere of legendary athletes. Except, at UFC 94 St. Pierre definitively proved that it was going to be the other way around.
The concept that Penn has never seemed to be able to grasp is that the way into the history books may well be by staying at home at 155-pounds and lording over the lightweight class for the foreseeable future. Fighting at lightweight forces the notoriously indolent champion to be in better shape, to fight guys closer to his own size and to make contributions to the sport that stretch beyond one-off "superfights" with other champions like St. Pierre.
Penn looked ridiculously dominant against Florian at UFC 101. He destroyed former champion Sean Sherk at UFC 84. Same with respected veteran Joe Stevenson at UFC 80. There is ample evidence to suggest that if he can keep his mind from fixating on more epic challenges that no one will be able to lay a glove on him at lightweight.
Enter Diego Sanchez, who has been on a tear of his own since cutting to 155 last year. "The Nightmare" – who coincidentally defeated Florian to capture the championship of the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter," back when both guys were trying to make a go of it at middleweight – is aggressive, a wicked top-position fighter and posses a seemingly bottomless gas tank.
Like Penn, he's a notoriously fast starter so the fireworks may come early and often when they meet in the cage this Saturday. But finding an MMA "expert" who is willing to pick Sanchez to defeat Penn has been difficult. Most are in agreement that "The Prodigy" is just flat better in all areas.
No, Penn's toughest opponent may well be his own aspirations. What he needs to do is be smart, fight (and beat) the best lightweights in the world and then sit back and let the superfights – against guys like Jose Aldo, Urijah Faber and possibly even St. Pierre – come to him.
It may sound funny, but the best strategy for Penn right now is to play hard to get. For "The Prodigy," the fight for greatness will be won by focusing on the process, not the product.
Chad Dundas is the Lead MMA Editor for The Sporting News and writes a weekly column for CraveOnline. He lives in Missoula, MT.
