BJ Penn Enlists Infamous Trainer in Preparing for Florian

Posted May 02, 2009 10:25AM By Mike Chiappetta (RSS feed)

Filed Under: UFC

UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn was soundly defeated by Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94, and then spent time filing a lengthy appeal that went nowhere, but it seems that Penn is finally looking ahead instead of backward.

A full three months before his UFC 101 main-event matchup against Kenny Florian, Penn is in San Clemente, Calif., training with Marv Marinovich at Sport Science Lab, according to a video he posted on his site, BJPenn.com.

Marinovich is a trainer who specializes in speed, power and functional training. He is also well known as the controversial father of ex-USC and Oakland Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovich, a one-time prodigy who saw his NFL dreams fall prey to substance-abuse issues.

In a 1988 Sports Illustrated story, Marinovich was described as raising "America's first test-tube athlete" for the unique upbringing of his son, Todd, who it was claimed in the article started his athletic conditioning at one month old. Todd Marinovich became a first-round NFL draft pick but flamed out due to personal issues. Marv Marinovich has gone on to become a respected trainer, working with among others Pittsburgh Steelers' All-Pro defensive back Troy Polamalu.

Penn and Florian were originally expected to meet on June's UFC 99 card, but that plan was scrapped when Penn asked for more time, and the matchup was moved to UFC 101, which will take place in Philadelphia on August 8.

Penn will eventually return to Hawaii for his full training camp, while Florian has countered by doing some training with St. Pierre before returning to Massachusetts to prepare with regular trainer Mark DellaGrotte.

Florian has won six straight fights, most recently defeating Joe Stevenson with a first-round rear naked choke at UFC 91, while Penn had won three straight lightweight fights before moving up to face GSP in January.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

5-02-2009 @ 12:05PM

kwilbur10 said...

bj needs a conditioning trainer. but this couldn't hurt him to hire somebody else outside his clique. what he really needs to do is find another place to train besides his home area, where ppl are not on his joc. he needs to train better as well as get his conditioning up to par, thats the real reason he lost to GSP

5-02-2009 @ 1:19PM

richardbikle said...

Penn will feel confident fighting Florian and will move forward, Florian needs to spend the first round attacking the body. I am convienced Penn has a thicker skull than norm, so i don't think head shots should be his main focus at first. I think Florian has the skills to stop an over rated Penn. As we've seen the minute "To the death Penn" doesn't have the avantage he's ready to quit. Great Champions and pound for pound best fighters don't quit in the corner, i woln't even get into the whole i got my mommy bit. Make him quit Kenny.

5-02-2009 @ 2:36PM

inkythewinky said...

hopefully ken-flo will retire the cry baby

5-02-2009 @ 1:39PM

retrojoke said...

Overrated lol, your such a clown.
Bj has fought the best in the world. You must just know his UFC fights. He has beaten the crap outa guys like Renzo Gracie. Florian doesnt have a chance.

5-02-2009 @ 5:42PM

Penn has had very little success out of the light weight division. At 5' 9", he has to cut 20 plus pounds to make weight the day before the fight to fight guys 5'6"/155 lb.s. By fight day he's put 15 plus pounds back on. He walks around 175/180 and should be fighting at ww. Penn quit in his corner fighting someone his size (GSP is 5'10"), not exactly the stuff of champions or great fighters. Penn has no heart.

5-02-2009 @ 2:34PM

i hate these bj penn nut-huggers

5-02-2009 @ 6:43PM

Such a clown. BJ Penn won the welterweight title from Hughes and it was later stripped from him in a contract dispute. He has fought light/welter/and open weight. Your are such a clown.
He has Beaten Gomi,Renzo Gracie,rodrigo gracie, and dwayne Ludwig in welterweight matches he sought out because the UFC didnt have a competitive welterweight opponent after he Spanked Hughes.
Later even he fought light heavyweight Machida as a welterweight- thats 2 weightclassess below him and that went to decision- really a lightHeavyweight couldnt finish a guy 35 pounds below him?
At welterweight in the UFC his matches have always been against only the best of the best. All former champion and you say he has no heart?
More like you have no brainwaves in that skull.

5-02-2009 @ 7:13PM

The Michida that Penn fought is not the same Machida of today. His game has dramatically improved since that time, and Penn's hasn't. Today Machida would knock Penn out in the first round. Penn is .500 against Hughes, won one - lost one. Stellar. Penn is zero against GSP, two fights - no wins; and he's cried about both. That you name the limited success Penn has had is just repeating what I said, he has had limited success. Gomi was a baseball player, the wins against the Gracies were legit wins, his win against Serra is questionable, but he got the nod. Maybe you should look up Penn's win/loss record out of the light weight division, that way you'll know what you sound like, not too bright.
And... theres no getting around Penn quit in his corner. He wasn't brave enought to face GSP another 5 minutes.

5-02-2009 @ 8:48PM

Omar said...

richardbikle some of the things you sat are idiotic. GSP walks around at 190 so your way off on the they are the same size thing. BJ is a former welterweight champ who is smaller than most world class 170's in the world. Limited success.... WTF are you talking about? You mean like two championships in differant wieght classes? or the fact that hes a top 10 maybe top 5 fighter in a higher weight class then his own? You do know that MOST UFC level fighers walk around 15-20 pounds heavier than the wieght classes they fight at right? Well obviously NOT!

5-02-2009 @ 9:29PM

Omar, Pemm is 5'9", GSP is 5'10". The one inch difference is less than the 2 inch plus difference Penn has on most light weights. Penn and GSP are closer in height than say Penn an Sherk (5'6") or Stevenson (5'7"), Pulver (5'7"),Creighton(5'6") - so not way off; maybe Penn just seems like a small person. His record out of the light weight class is not world class, average at best. At his own weight he hardly defends his belt more than once a year. A great Champ would defend 2, maybe 3 times a year. He needs to take all comers in the light weight division before stepping up a weight class. Nick Diez, diego Schanez, kaplan, huerta, fisher... Penn could loose any of these fights, theres a good chance he could loose them all. So until to the death penn actually starts defending the belt, he doesnt deserve that much credit.

5-03-2009 @ 12:29PM

kwilbur3 said...

the height might not be the difference but when we say bigger we mean size difference, just because the weigh in at a certain weight doesn't mean that at fight night they don't put it back on. that is why the weigh in is a day before. GSP used his size difference in this fight just like the fight before when all GSP did was play position control.

5-04-2009 @ 8:25AM

Eric said...

Why do you keep saying this ... ?

Height has nothing to do with size! THERE ARE WEIGHT DIVISIONS NOT HEIGHT DIVISIONS!

All fighters cut weight. BJ cuts a normal amount of weight. Guys like Sherk & Alves cut much more weight than Penn.

BJ was exhausted and had taken a pounding for 20 minutes. His corner stopped the fight. GSP won. You need to GET OVER all of the BJ bashing.

5-03-2009 @ 12:28PM

but still having an average record outside your weightclass is not bad actually considering he fought out his weight by 2 classes is very very good. that is why he was considered one of the better p4p. and its hard to tell how machida has gotten better he still fights for points (even though his last fight says other wise)

5-03-2009 @ 12:58AM

joey said...

Man BJ doesn't belong at welterweight and if he he does loose to Florian he should just retire plain and simple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry the GSP was one of the worst fights I have ever seen and I have seen some bad ones complete waste of money.

5-03-2009 @ 1:14AM

Climber said...

Yea, and GSP was the one who made it a boring waste of money. Take down the samller guy and lay on him while he is all greased up. Penn is by far a more exciting fighter than GSP.

5-03-2009 @ 7:43AM

And richard you are most definatly a rookie and a clown.You talk about heart you use GSP? The guy has the weakest heart in the sport. He was so afraid and nervous to fight Matt Hughes that he crumbled. I understand that your a forget the past kind of person by not even crediting Penn for fighting Machida so your probably going to be as ignorant and say Pierre has changed. You cant change heart and pierre has weak spirit.

Bj Penn has fought around the world moron, GSP is UFC only with minor exposure in kyokushin karate bouts. You can tell a fighter who loves to fight and has heart and loves the sport when he can be found in arenas around the world.

Finally, becuase you are a complete idiot to claim Penn is overated- Who has pierre fought compared to Machida? Hieron?/Frank Trigg/Strasser/mayhem miller/karo pariysan/fitch/sherk/hughes/serra

And what about Penn's fights-renzo gracie/rodrigo gracie/Machida/jens pulver/sherk/stevenson/gomi/caol ouno/din thomas/hughes/serra

Do the Math.

5-03-2009 @ 12:32PM

retro, heres some math for you; GSP made Penn quit. Penn didn't have the heart to come out for another round. Hows your math so far? So anyway you look at, GSP had more heart than Penn. I see why you like Penn, you're both big mouths with no substance. Maybe you should go get your mommy ala Penn and have her write for you.

5-03-2009 @ 9:14AM

easy7179 said...

the math to me adds up to penn being older and having more fights. some of them against international opponents b/c he quit the ufc (twice). unless penn beats florian and continues defending his belt timely and honorably, he's going to be remembered as a quitter/whiner/could have been great champion. where as gsp is probably going to replace hughes as the best ww champ ever.

5-03-2009 @ 2:19PM

Penn fights anyone anywhere anytime. He jumps up in weight and fights the best fighters first. So he lost to GSP twice and made an official complaint to the commission to challenge the legallity of the fight and all of a sudden hes a whiner and overrated?
What does Bj Penn want to do right now? He wants to fight GSP again. That doesnt exactly sound like a weak heart overated fighter to me. You know how many fighters that are legends and champions that havent been able to continue a fight? Many.
This isnt about Bj Penn being weak or overrated. This is disrespecting a fighter by discrediting a longer history and champion in 2 weightclassess. You do a good job putting his achievements in the dark and a great job bringing out his most recent failures. Gj you are officially a hater.

5-03-2009 @ 3:04PM

Why don't you tell me how many Champions quit in their corner, i'd like to hear it. Don't forget to post Penns record outside LW. You hail two losses to GSP, a 50/50 record with Hughes, a 50/50 with Uno, and a loss to Machida as signs of greatness? What are you, goldberg's understudy?
If penn wants to fight GSP so bad he should have come out for the 5th round instead of having his brother quit for him. I guess mom wasn't available. I'd like a 3rd fight. I like watching GSP kick his ass.

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