PENN: Hawaiian born B. J. Penn is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt and trains regularly with the Nova Uniao team while also having trained with Frank Shamrock, Javier Mendes and the fighters at American Kickboxing Academy. He was given his black belt by Andre “Dede” Pederneiras and was the first American to compete at the black belt level in Brazil and win the World Championships. He began training in Tae Kwon Do and boxing-style sparring but his TKD teacher pushed him in the direction of Ralph Gracie. He trained with Ralph and continued to train in Hawaii with Renato “Charuto” Verissimo. Prior to the UFC, B.J. competed in a Pankration style match (open hand strikes) while at Ralph Gracie’s school. B.J. is the current UFC Welterweight Champion but as most fans know, that title and his relationship with the UFC in general are up in the air. Penn’s participation in this event coupled with teammate “Cabbage” Correira’s participation in Penn’s own Rumble on the Rock have caused much strife between he and UFC’s parent company Zuffa.
LUDWIG: Duane “Bang” Ludwig makes his K-1 MMA debut. He is an accomplished stand-up fighter with a 35-5 combined amateur and pro kickboxing record and a 6-4 record in the K-1 and a MMA record of 13-2. Ludwig trains in Colorado with King of Pancrase Nathan Marquardt, Shane Pitts, Christian Valen and boxing coach Trevor Williams. When in California he trains with another former King of Pancrase and the former UFC Heavyweight Champion Bas Rutten. Duane began training with Rutten when Bas came to Colorado to prepare for Kevin Randleman. “Bang”, as he’s known, has recently been training with boxing trainer John Hackelman, UFC veteran Scott Adams and the rest of the Pit Fight Team in Arroyo Grande, California. He’s also worked with former KOTC champ Javier Vasquez and Pride veteran Amir Rahnavardi and trains as part of 3-D Martial Arts with team members Leo Pavlushkin and Andre Walker. On the feet Ludwig is deadly. His left roundhouse kick is very accurate and you can actually see him kick the mouthpiece out of Caesar Romeno’s mouth at GC4. His ground game is good enough to keep him alive with less experienced grapplers and with Scott Adams and Nathan Marquardt working with him, he can only improve.
MY PICK: Penn seems very focused at this point in his career and he will have to embody that sentiment if he is to get through the pressure of this situation. Though not known as a ground technician, Ludwig is a top lightweight and a risky opponent to take on when there is so much riding on this bout. B.J. will only keep this standing as long as he needs to. He’ll bring “Bang” to the mat and raise his stock by submitting kickboxer in the 2nd Rd.