B.J. Penn celebrates 15th anniversary of first successful UFC title defense: Throwback

During his prime, Hall of Famer B.J. Penn was a force to be reckoned with in the UFC as he cemented his legendary status by becoming a two-division champion.

Penn recently took to Twitter to celebrate the anniversary of a special milestone in his Hall of Fame career. Yesterday marked 15 years since he earned his first successful UFC lightweight title defense after defeating Sean Sherk via third round TKO at UFC 84.

The Hall of Famer took to Twitter and shared a video of the fight with a caption to celebrate the milestone, writing:

"On this day 15 years ago, I earned my first UFC lightweight title defense...#UFC84"

Sherk was the former lightweight champion, but was stripped after testing positive for PEDs following his unanimous decision win over Hermes Franca. 'The Prodigy' made a statement and solidified his lightweight title reign by finishing the former champion in dominant fashion.

Due to Sherk being stripped, the promotion crowned a new lightweight champion at UFC 80, which saw the Hawaiian submit TUF 2 winner Joe Stevenson to win the vacant title. He went on to successfully retain the lightweight championship two more times against Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez before losing it to Frankie Edgar at UFC 112.

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Who did B.J. Penn defeat to become UFC welterweight champion?

Although B.J. Penn is regarded as one of the greatest lightweights, he won his first UFC championship at welterweight.

Less than a year after fighting Caol Uno to a draw for the vacant lightweight championship at UFC 41, 'The Prodigy' challenged then welterweight champion Matt Hughes at UFC 46. At the time, Hughes was the top welterweight in the world having successfully retained his title on 5 occasions and had a strong case for being one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport.

The Hawaiian made quick work of the welterweight king as he submitted him via rear-naked choke at 4:37 of the first round to become the new UFC welterweight champion. It was a short-lived title reign as he was stripped of the title 4 months later, when he left the promotion and signed with K-1.