BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez

The pride of Hilo and all of Hawaii, “The Prodigy” BJ Penn, puts up his UFC lightweight championship against Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez.

Penn, who’s been undefeated at 155 lbs. for eight years, takes on the Ultimate FIghter season 1 winner. This looks to be a battle for legacy, as Penn continues his dominance of everyone at 155, while Sanchez is looking to capitalize on his Ultimate Fighter win.

Overall, this looks to be a great matchup.

Also on the card is former UFC Heavyweight champ Frank Mir against Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Cheick Kongo. Also, Kenny Florian looks to bounce back form his loss to BJ Penn by taking on “The Carpenter” Clay Guida.

This all goes down on Saturday, so look for everyone rocking a RVCA BJ Penn shirt in public that day.

For more info on the fight, check out http://107.ufc.com

BJ Penn vs Georges St. Pierre 2 – UFC 94

I just needed an excuse to post up these dope BJ Penn x RVCA fight trunks.

This weekend is poised to be huge for sports fans. Not only do you have the biggest game in the world being played not named the World Cup, but you have the biggest rematch in MMA right now.

BJ Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre, part 2. Don’t think I need to write more about that.

The undercard, however, is pretty bananas as well. Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva put their undefeated records on the line in the co-main event; Stephan Bonner and Jon Jones are also putting their undefeated records on the line against each other.  Also on the card is Clay Guida taking on Nate Diaz and Karo Parisyan taking on Dong Hyun Kim.

UFC 94 goes down this Saturday (10pm EST/7pm PST/ 5pm HST) on Pay-Per-View.  You can check it out on PPV or via Yahoo! Sports

UFC Pep Rally at the Blaisdell Concert Hall

NEWS FLASH: THE VENUE GOT CHANGED TO THE BLAISDELL CONCERT HALL, SAME TIME THOUGH… MAKE NOTE. 

With the unusual state that Hawaii MMA is in, this is most definitely a shot in the arm.

Join UFC Lightweight Champion “The Prodigy” BJ Penn and Welterweight Champion Georges “RUSH” St. Pierre, along with UFC President Dana White for this historic press conference.  This is quite unusual, as UFC 94: Penn / St. Pierre 2 isn’t scheduled until January 31st.

So, the hot rumor out now is that this will be the announcement of the long-rumored Aloha Stadium show.

Only God and Dana White know the answer to that one.  And you will too come this Friday at 5pm.  This event is free and open to the public, with the doors opening at 4pm.  Get there early because Shell parking is always the B and, also, the first 2000 people through the door get a UFC 94 shirt.  Who doesn’t like free shirts?

This is the first event in a long list of events that will end 2008 on top (Brock Lesnar, everyone?!?!) and get 2009 jumpstarted.

After this, the UFC heads into their final event of the year December 27th with UFC 92: Ultimate 2008, featuring Forrest Griffin vs Rashad Evans, Antonio Nogueira vs. Frank Mir, and Wanderlei Silva vs. “Rampage” Jackson.

UFC 93 will feature the dream matchup of Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin and the long-awaited rematch between UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Which then leads us to UFC 94.

Be there this Friday, say what up to BJPenn.com and get excited, the UFC is coming to town.

MMA Expo This Weekend

Now, Hawaii has always been huge for mixed martial arts.  From watching it on TV and the Blaisdell, to supporting it by buying the clothing, and, in some cases, participating in it, Hawaii has played a big part in the growth and popularity of MMA in the country.  In fact, some of the better fighters in the business have made Hawaii a training center for their exploits.

So, it really comes with much shock that the first MMA expo is happening this weekend.  You would think that this would have occurred sooner, but I guess not.

Over 200 MMA and fiteness exhibitors will be on hand for the three day event, which also promises appearances from the biggest names in MMA, such as local heroes Egan Inoue and Niko Vitale, fitness models Brandy Leaver and Priscilla Tuft, two time women’s boxing world champion Mia “The Knockout” St. John, Tanoai Reed aka TOA from American Gladiators, and the undisputed UFC light heavyweight champion “The Prodigy” BJ Penn.

There’s also the PACSUB grappling championships going on at during the expo, so there’s tons of action available this weekend.

The expo runs this weekend: Friday, 3pm-10pm; Saturday, 9am-9pm; and Sunday 9am-5pm at the Neil Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.

Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for military (with valid ID), $3 for kids 7-12 and free for kids 6 and under.  Three day passes are also available for $18.

For more information, check out Hawaii MMA Expo.

BJ Penn and John Cena meet and greet at Ala Moana

This Saturday at Ala Moana Center, there’s gonna be some serious violence going down, with two of the baddest men on the planet holding down their own separate meet and greets just mere yards away from each other.

Going first, MMA Magazine and Hawaii Literacy will be hosting UFC Undisputed Lightweight Champion BJ Penn over at Barnes and Noble for a autograph session and meet and greet from 10am to Noon.

At 10:30am, GNC will be hosting rapper, movie star, and former WWE Champion John Cena at their location for a meet and greet.  That one is gonna last until 4:30pm.

I think the route of least resistance will be to hit up the BJ Penn signing first, then to head over to the John Cena signing.  However, BJ does live relatively close and he’s always doing stuff with RVCA, so the opportunity to meet and greet BJ is a bit more prevalent than the opportunity to meet John Cena.  And besides, you can ask Cena about his thoughts about the Great Khali in “Get Smart” and his thoughts about the recent WWE draft lottery.

To recap, BJ Penn will be at Barnes and Noble from 10am-Noon; John Cena will be at GNC from 1030am to 430pm.  Both events will be going down at Ala Moana Center this Saturday.

BJ Penn meet and greet this Saturday

Come meet the undisputed (finally) UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn.

The champ will be touring the island this Saturday, meeting with fans and chatting up his recent exploits in the octagon, including his stoppage of Sean Sherk to unify the belts.

The first stop on the RVCA sponsored tour is Town & Country at Windward Mall from 230pm-4pm.  From there, the champ will move over to the T&C inside of Pearlridge Mall from 430pm-6pm.  The final stop on the tour will take BJ to Blue Hawaii Surf’s Kalihi Boutique from 7pm-830pm.

So, swing on by any one of the spots, bring a pair of gloves for BJ to hit up and bask in the glow of a hard fought victory.

For more information, email Philip Pendleton at philipp7@mac.com or check out BJPenn.com

RVCA “Balance of Opposites” Tour

Blue Hawaii/84 Skate is bringing down the RVCA “Balance of Opposites” Tour, featuring RVCA Artists Retna, Revok and Ben Horton.  This tour corresponds with a couple of things, including Blue Hawaii opening up a new shop in Kalihi, Matt Costa playing at Next Door Tuesday night and BJ Penn, whose always down to rep Hawaii and will take on Sean Sherk May 24th for the UFC Lightweight Title.

Tuesday night will start off the festivities, as BJ Penn and Matt Costa will be holding a signing at Blue Hawaii Surf at Ala Moana, followed by Matt Costa performing at Next Door, with Retna, Revok, and Ben Horton doing live art.  The signing goes down at Ala Moana at 5PM, the show at Next Door starts at 7PM.

The following day, Revok, Retna and Ben Horton will be doing live painting at 180 Boardshop, at the Kaahumanu Shopping Center, starting at 11AM.  That night, at the Hard Rock Cafe on Front St., Matt Costa will be performing with Revok, Retna and Ben Horton doing the live art thing.  Show starts at 9PM.

Thursday finds everyone back on Oahu at the Blue Hawaii Loft for a private party and performance by Matt Costa.

RVCA is doing big things, so check out one of these events, especially the Matt Costa concert at Next Door.  Tickets are $25 and expect the place to be packed.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the videos below:

For more, check out RVCA Clothing.

UFC 80: Penn vs. Stevenson

Kailua’s own BJ Penn will step into the octagon with the very dangerous Joe Stevenson for the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Title.

BJ will carry with him a clutch victory over the legendary Jens Pulver in the previous Ultimate Fighter FInale, so the momentum definitely will carry over into tonight’s big fight.

The fight will emanate out of London, England, and will be broadcast on PPV from 10PM EST. The live broadcast will be shown at 7pm EST, so that means it’ll be on at 11am here. So, get that DVR ready and check out Hawaii’s own go for the title. UFC 80 can only be seen on pay-per-view (no SPIKE tv coverage here, unfortunately), so get to ordering.