BJ Penn's training habits, Chuck liddell's future, and Kimbo Slice vs. James Toney

Since his second loss to Frankie Edgar at UFC 118 rumors have begun to swirl that BJ Penn didn't train properly prior to the fight and that he was having trouble making the 155lb limit prior to the weigh in. Certainly after making weight he didn't appear to look drained or any less in shape than he normally does, and the problem with his game plan didn't seem to be that he was getting tired as such during the fight.

Having said that, the big problem throughout Penn's career has been the fact that he hasn't always trained with the best team of people around him. At his gym in Hilo he is the boss, makes his own schedules and by all accounts doesn't have anyone really pushing him properly to work harder when he doesn't feel like it or turn up on days he would rather be elsewhere. On top of that he doesn't have the same level of fighters and sparring partners around him that he would have if he trained with a major fight team.

Whether Penn on this occasion trained properly or not though, at some point that stops being just an excuse for bad performances and instead becomes a habitual problem as big as any other flaw most fighters have. Very few fighters have the same kind of talent Penn has, but unfortunately because of that and the fact that he doesn't need to fight if he doesn't feel like it, his work rate is not what it needs to be for him to become an all time great.

If avenging a loss and trying to recapture the title he was never supposed to lose in the first place cannot motivate Penn, then it becomes unclear exactly what can.

Even after losing his last three in a row and 5 of his last 6, Chuck Liddell still isn't convinced that he should be retiring from mixed martial arts. Although he has yet to make a decision either way, he has made sure to leave the door open after his most recent loss to Rich Franklin, which is probably a sign that he will be attempting another comeback sooner or later.

A third fight with old rival Tito Ortiz is probably the one possibility that the fans and Dana White would both accept at this point, which will have to wait until at least the beginning of next year at the very least with Ortiz set to take on Matt Hamill on October 23rd. Outside of a previous opponent he has a stylistic advantage over though there aren't many light heavyweights in the division that Liddell would now be the favorite to beat.

After his recent loss in the UFC, James Toney is heading back to the familiar climes of boxing, and is eager to throw down with Gary Shaw's latest signing Kimbo Slice, who himself was released by the UFC several months ago. According to several interviews, Kimbo is eager

If Shaw and Kimbo are looking to make a fast buck before the already 37 year old Kimbo's dodgy knees or even dodgier beard are exposed, then they will leave Toney well alone. As bad as he looked at UFC 118 underneath Randy Couture, he can still box better than Kimbo could ever hope to, and past his best or not he would still make short work of the former bare knuckle fighter from Florida.

If Kimbo were to pull off a very unlikely win, given his drawing power, he would probably be instantly catapulted amongst the likes of David Haye and the Klitschko brothers in terms of what fights he would be able to get. Undeservedly yes, but with the name recognition he has in the U.S already he might even be looking at pay per views and title shots within two fights if he's a lot better than his youtube footage suggests.

More likely though, Shaw and Slice will talk big in the media about Toney but instead build Kimbo up with a few stiffs before trying to put together a big money fight with someone half decent. At which point he makes several million dollars, gets completely destroyed and retires from boxing.