K-1 Hawaii Preview: Penn Versus Gracie

B.J. Penn will face Renzo Gracie (Pics, Vids) in a highly anticipated main event on a card that will also feature the K-1 Hawaii eight-man tournament. The door opened up in 2004. We heard rumblings that Penn would fight a member of the Gracie family. It seemed like a long shot because Penn trained under Ralph Gracie (Pics, Vids) for many years and probably wouldn’t turn on the Gracie family.

Well, in the spirit of competition, Penn fought and beat Rodrigo Gracie by decision at Rumble on the Rock 6, which took place last November. It was also clear, as the bout’s commencement approached, that this might not be the only time Penn fought a Gracie.

Here we are, with BJ against Renzo — but could a third bout be far off? Could he face his former instructor Ralph? Could he battle UFC legend Royce? Would the family’s undefeated champion Rickson come out of retirement to preserve the family’s name? Only time will tell.

The K-1 Hawaii tournament taking place the same night includes some interesting talent: MMA veteran Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge, boxing oddity Eric “Butterbean” Esch, Hawaiian fighters Wesley “Cabbage” Correira and Scott Junk (Pics, Vids) and K-1 veterans Yusuke Fujimoto, Carter Williams (Pics, Vids) and Michael McDonald (Pics, Vids).

The super-fight is a modern day “War of the Gargantuans,” pitting 6-foot-8, 464-pound Sumo wrestler Akebono (Chad Rowan (Pics, Vids)) against 7-foot-2, 364-pound 2005 Asia GP Champion Hong Man Choi. Musashi will also appear on the card and of course the evening’s main draw, at least for MMA fans like me, will be B.J. Penn versus Renzo Gracie (Pics, Vids).