Welcome back UFC Lightweight Champion and Hilo native, BJ Penn. If you haven’t been connected to the local sporting scene, he is returning from a Welterweight title showdown with Georges St. Pierre. Unfortunately, the fight’s outcome was not the one BJ had trained for. However, any athlete knows that sometimes it just isn’t their day. What is rare is to find an athlete and champion who is humbled even in defeat.
During his video interview at BJPenn.com, he openly says that he got beat and beaten up. He has offered no excuses for his loss or performance even though this fight is not without controversy. Greasegate, as it is now referred to, is basically an alleged cheating scheme involving St. Pierre’s camp and vaseline. The incident is currently under investigation.
Since BJ’s return to the UFC in March of 2006, he has been able to reestablish himself as one of the organization and world’s best MMA fighters. In today’s world, athletics is a lucrative business and the BJ Penn brand is a hot commodity. When you combine a hot brand such as BJ Penn with a billion dollar company such as The Ultimate Fighting Championship, you are even more unstoppable.
Dana White, president of UFC announced in January that they are going to expand the UFC brand by opening UFC Gyms. In his interview with the Associated Press, White said, "We're going to force all these other gyms to take it up to another level. Just like we have in the fight business, and everyone's trying to compete with us now, same thing's going to happen in the fitness industry." The UFC is getting into the fitness business and the first gym in Hawaii will sport the BJ Penn name.
Ordinarily, this wouldn’t pose much of a threat to the large companies such as 24 Hour Fitness, Gold’s or Bally’s but what makes this situation different and very interesting is who the UFC chose as their partners in this endeavor. New Evolution Fitness Company (NEFC) is owned and operated by none other than Mark Mastrov and Jim Rowley. Mark Mastrov is the founder and former chairman of 24 Hour Fitness. His partner and CEO of UFC Gyms Jim Rowley, was the former Division President of 24 Hour Fitness. Both of these fitness geniuses helped to take their former company to unbelievable growth year after year.
Despite being well known in the fighting business, UFC Gyms will not be about fighting and according to Rowley, “It will be about training in new dynamic ways, training like your favorite fighters and training with results in an environment like no other.”
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