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[sandywh]

B.J. Penn’s Boxing Coach Jason Parillo Reflects On UFC 112 Loss

Following B.J. Penn's disappointing loss to Frankie Edgar at "UFC 112: Invincible," the former lightweight champion's trainer Jason Parillo discusses his thoughts on the fight. Back home in the U.S., MMA Spot's Breanna Armstrong met with Parillo at the RVCA training center in Costa Mesa, Calif. to find out what he thinks may have led to Penn's uncharacteristic performance, the odd 50-45 score that has many scratching their heads, and what the future holds for Penn.

Armstrong: What do you think about B.J.’s fight?

Parillo: I can’t really say if there was a winner, nor a loser of the fight, but obviously the winner was Frankie Edgar. So it’s nothing to complain about at the end of the day, you just have to go on. But I don’t think that B.J. was himself, I don’t think that he established what we were trying to establish in that fight. I expected B.J. to have a showcase fight, I expected him to win in a high fashion. I thought leading up to fight week we had him going in that direction and camps don’t always go smoothly, but B.J.’s reaction time wasn’t where it normally is. I don’t know if we were a little over trained and not so much under trained. B.J.’s definitely looked better physically. He didn’t have the same energy walking out to the cage. Normally, you can feel that energy coming off of him and I didn’t feel that energy as much. B.J. felt that he had enough talent to beat Frankie even on a bad day. And B.J. ended up having a bad day. I’m not making excuses; I think Frankie is a hell of a fighter. I think he established his game plan of what he wanted to do and I think we knew that was exactly what his game plan was. I knew it personally. And I thought we established B.J.’s movement in cutting out the cage, to where he could have smothered that speed and took advantage of Frankie but he never got off to do it.

Armstrong: What do you think about the judge that gave all five rounds to Edgar?

Parillo: It was shady, I felt that the judges were in a position where if there was any close round what so ever, they would give it to Frankie. Because B.J. was supposed to dominate, and so if he is not dominating, he might as well be losing the round. No doubt the first and second round B.J. won, I feel he won the third round too, some people might think it’s a draw or might go one way or the other, the fourth is questionable and the fifth I feel that it went to Frankie. The 45 and 50 round is crazy but these judges are only human. I know that when I come home after my job, maybe I make a few wrong calls at times. And that judge probably questions a couple of rounds that he judged himself.

Armstrong: How was B.J. after the fight?

Parillo: He wasn’t hurt, his eyes were puffed up a little bit. But he was kind of at the same place that he was at before the fight. He was a little flat. I think that he was having a really bad day. His natural ability and reflexes still weren’t there a little bit but his reaction time wasn’t the B.J. that I’ve seen.

Armstrong: What’s next?

Parillo: I talked to B.J. this morning about a couple new things. I am going to talk to him in a week and just give him some time for things to settle down. Everyone has their own opinions especially with such a high profile fight like this one. He’ll be back. This is what B.J. does. He’s a fighter. This is what he loves to do the most. He’ll be back and I think he’ll win the title for sure.

MMA Spot - B.J. Penn’s Boxing Coach Jason Parillo Reflects On UFC 112 Loss

[SinnerTim]

Wow. What a level headed guy. No controversy here.

Come on BJ haters, time to find a problem with it and talk shit, have fun.

[evergleam]

Another good read. It's always tough when you leave it to the judges and I really wanted B.J. to take this one.

Props to Frankie Edgar.

What do you think about the decision sandywh?

[snakebite]

I think that BJ won the fight clear cut. Thats just my opinion. Just because a guy moves alot and throws feints does not make him the better or more aggresive fighter. Sure he had 1 1/2 takedowns, but should the other 16 he attempted that bj shrugged off go in BJ's favor? I mean really, if you look at the fightmetric stats its obvious who was really working more in the octagon. I was super pissed and know that BJ should have won. Seriously i was in awe at how edgar would come in with a combo and bj;s timing was so PERFECT he would just throw a hook and slap him down. Something needs to be done about the judging.

[sandywh]

Originally Posted by evergleam

What do you think about the decision sandywh?

First of all, let me say that I actually picked Edgar to win before the fight.

But I had the fight scored
1-Penn
2-Draw
3-Draw
4-Edgar
5-Edgar

And honestly, this was a Machida vs Shogun result, they could have called it a draw or for Penn and I could have easily understood. Likewise the 50-45 is odd, but I can even see that score happening based on experience of judge.

Frankie outboxed BJ the whole fight, and a boxing judge would have scored it that way.

[pantomime horse]

Excellent responses. He echoed what I had said about Penn not being himself. Look at his past victims at lightweight. They looked as though they had gone through hell. I'm very interested in a rematch to see how Penn responds. I believe he deserves it after the reign he had coming into Saturday's fight.

[sandywh]

Originally Posted by pantomime horse

Excellent responses. He echoed what I had said about Penn not being himself. Look at his past victims at lightweight. They looked as though they had gone through hell. I'm very interested in a rematch to see how Penn responds. I believe he deserves it after the reign he had coming into Saturday's fight.

I think Edgar's gameplan tapped into Penn's biggest weakness.

B.J. performs better as the aggressor. Edgar never really let him get into that role. Edgar put the pressure on Penn, using his speed to force Penn to stay off balance.

[mattc25]

Originally Posted by snakebite

Sure he had 1 1/2 takedowns, but should the other 16 he attempted that bj shrugged off go in BJ's favor? Something needs to be done about the judging.

....exactly what about all the takedowns he stuffed....does that not fall into the category of octagon control Douglas Crosby ?

[lwbrewer]

Originally Posted by mattc25

....exactly what about all the takedowns he stuffed....does that not fall into the category of octagon control Douglas Crosby ?

I wouldn't call stuffing a takedown as control unless you inflicted damage to stop it. The one trying the takedown is the agressor.
The guy really went out on a limb when he predicted BJ would win the title back.lol

[Clark80]

Originally Posted by sandywh

First of all, let me say that I actually picked Edgar to win before the fight.

But I had the fight scored
1-Penn
2-Draw
3-Draw
4-Edgar
5-Edgar

And honestly, this was a Machida vs Shogun result, they could have called it a draw or for Penn and I could have easily understood. Likewise the 50-45 is odd, but I can even see that score happening based on experience of judge.

Frankie outboxed BJ the whole fight, and a boxing judge would have scored it that way.

Not forgetting that Frankie had 1 and half / 2 takedowns as well. The best gameplan against a LW Penn so far.