The canterville ghost

Why I Fight
The Belt Is Just an Accessory

BJ Penn with David Weintraub

I dedicate my book to my daughter, to my family, and to the future of MMA

Contents

Preface

1 The First Part 2 What I Learned 3 Unexpected Changes 4 Ralph and Dave 5 New Beginnings 6 Unfinished Business 7 Moving Forward 8 Entering the Octagon 9 Three-Fight Deal Photographic Insert 10 Up, Then Down 11 JustScrap 12 Title Defense 13 Full Circle 14 Opportunity Awaits 15 The Real Champ 16 On an Island 17 More Than Words

Afterword Acknowledgments About the Authors Copyright About the Publisher

PREFACE
THINKING BACK TEN YEARS AGO, if someone told me I was going to write a book about myself, I could think of a handful of people who would read it, and all of them would probably have the name Penn.In fact, I don’t even really know if they would read it, let alone a lot of people I don’t know! I would bet my mom would, but I am not sure how much I would wager. Even recently, when I was first approached about writing a book, it was not something I was overly excited about. A TV show? Yeah, sure, that’s easy. They just point the camera at you, then you kind of do your thing, whatever thatthing is. A magazine article? That can be done in one day, maybe with a flight. A book written by someone else, about me, taking guesses about who I am? That would probably leave me with another fight on my hands. A book about fighting? Easy. But to write a book about me, by me, to talk about my life? I have to be honest and say I was not that excited. Then I sat back and realized that if only oneperson I do not know actually picks this book up and decides to read it, that is such a huge compliment, I cannot even explain. So while I write this book, assuming people are going to read it, if only one person I do not know chooses to, that makes me really happy. I want to say thank you to that person, and any person who has taken enough interest in me to allow me to have the time in my life toactually do this. Even if you decide to read it because you do not like me, you too have taken enough interest in me, which has given me so much in return. I never ever thought I would be in this position in my life, and here I am. I am responsible for things, and to other people, and to places I never even considered, or ever thought about. For a kid from Hawaii, all of what has happened to memeans a lot more than you could possibly realize.

1

THE FIRST PART

MY NAME IS JAY DEE PENN, but most people know me by my family-given nickname of “BJ,” or BJ Penn. It stands for “Baby Jay,” as in “Baby Jay Dee Penn.” The reason they call me BJ instead of, say, Junior, Trey, the second, or the third is that there are more Jay Dee Penns than just me. There’s my father, and a brother,another brother, and now a nephew—who all have the same given legal name: Jay Dee. It might get confusing to some, but it’s pretty straightforward for those who know us. Some people say having so many Jay Dees in a family could possibly take away from our individual identities. I disagree. In fact, I look at it from the opposite view, in that having the same name, or just being a Penn, means we all havesomething we must strive to uphold. For one of us to tarnish or trash the name would make us all look bad. In a family like mine, that’s a risky thing, tarnishing the name. But if you did this, whether by mistake or intention, the first people to help and support you would be those whose name you tarnished. It binds us together, and in a way that ensures each of us that the other will work hardto do great things, not just for themselves, but on behalf of everyone in our family. For what happens to one Penn happens to us all, and while it may not be perfect for everyone in the world, it’s what makes us who we are. This is true whether the name is Jay Dee Penn or something else Penn. In total, my parents ended up having six children, five of them boys. I have other siblings, like my...