Hawaii's BJ "The Prodigy" Penn made his second fight in the thirty second Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC a memorable one. The UFC is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious mixed martial arts event in America. The UFC allows martial artist of different disciplines such as boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, and Judo, among other styles, to compete in a one on one match up in a cage to see who is the dominate athlete. Fights can end in knockouts, similar to boxing and kickboxing, submissions as seen in Judo and Jiu-Jitsu, or by referee stoppage. BJ, a Hilo native, who first started boxing in Hilo as a youngster, moved on to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Penn took to Jiu-Jitsu, a ground based martial arts, like a fish to water. He soon became known as a shark in the Jiu-Jitsu world, quickly swallowing his prey in the competitions that he entered. His crowning achievement was winning the 2000 World Championships of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the black belt division and becoming the first non-Brazilian to accomplish this feat. All this after training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for only four years. No wonder why they call BJ "The Prodigy."

BJ Penn started cross training in wrestling at a local college in San Jose, California to help accent his Jiu-Jitsu skills. While in San Jose, he started training at the American Kickboxing Academy run by former ISKA World Kickboxing Champion, Javier Mendez. Many mixed martial artists trained at the academy including multiple UFC Champion, Frank Shamrock. These fighters peaked Penn's interest in entering mixed martial arts competitions. He soon began training with these top fighters and once again, enjoyed success at the school.

Usually, fighters must prove themselves for many years by fighting in smaller events hoping to show the UFC that they have the skills and talent to be worthy of being showcased in the mixed martial arts event in the nation. BJ Penn's reputation has preceded him and he was invited to make his debut fight in the UFC on May 4th, where Penn scored a referee stoppage against wrestler/fighter, Joey Gilbert. Penn was invited back last Friday to fight in only his second fight against the much experienced, Din "The Dominator" Thomas at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey in the semi-main event.

Running to the ring with a "Hilo Boy" t-shirt, Penn started the fight trading punches with Thomas. The fighters soon came together in a clinch and went to the ground where Penn ended up on the bottom, a very comfortable position for the highly trained Jiu-Jitsu world champion. Thomas attempted a few punches, but the defense of Hawaiian proved adequate. Penn attempted a shoulder lock/arm bar, but failed and the two fighters stood up after the scramble. With his one free hand, Penn grabbed the back of the neck of Thomas and perfectly executed a Muay Thai kickboxing knee to the face of Thomas, which sent him falling to the canvas. The Hawaii fighter finished the fight with three well placed punches to the face of his opponent which convinced the referee that the fight was over with Penn scoring a knock out victory at two minutes and forty-two seconds in the first round.

With this victory, BJ Penn may be one or two fights away from fighting for the Lightweight Ultimate Fighting Championship title against the current champion, Jens "Little Evil" Pulver. All doubts about Penn being the "real deal" have been silenced. After the fight, BJ told the crowd that he is a nice guy, but the Lightweight Championship belt is his. If he continues training and competing the way he has been, the champion better take notice because this Hawaiian native is on a mission and looks unstoppable.

The June 29 UFC broke the American record for the largest attendance for a mixed martial arts event with 11,492. The Ultimate Fighting Championship has been censored from Hawaii pay-per-view audiences for about three years because of the decision of TimeWarner brass who owns the local cable company, Oceanic Cable. Hawaii fans can only view this event by purchasing a Dish Network Satellite system. Zuffa LLC, the company that owns and runs the UFC, announced at the event that they have just come to an agreement with iN-DEMAND, to bring the UFC back to 2,000 cable systems across America. iN-DEMAND is the company that Oceanic Cable utilizes for Hawaii subscribers to order pay-per-view movies and sporting events. The agreement should be in place for the next UFC event slated for September 28, 2001. It is unknown at this time if TimeWarner and Oceanic Cable will allow the UFC to be available to Hawaii cable subscribers and if Hawaii's BJ Penn will be fighting in the next UFC.