Why I Fight The Belt Is Just an Accessory

He's studied Jiu-Jitsu with the Gracies in Brazil, studied Muay Thai among Thailand's underground fighters, and instructed special operatives in the Israeli Defense Force, he is Jay Dee B J Penn. This memoir reveals a journey through Penn's grueling mental and physical preparations as he prepares for the big fight.

Street fighting.
Brazilian jujitsu.
Grappling.
Welcome to BJ Penn's island. (Don't worry, he won't hurt you . . . much.)

For the last decade, BJ Penn has been one of the most successful and feared fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). People have been quick to judge, praise, criticize, and hype him, trying to understand what makes him the provocative and controversial fighter that he is.

Why I Fight is the answer that critics, fans, commentators, and pundits have been waiting for. In his own words, Penn explains what led a scrappy teenager from the rough streets of Hilo, Hawaii, onto the biggest stage in all of mixed martial arts. In life, just like in the Octagon, he has never been one to back down from a fight.

A blunt and brutal look at his hardest-fought victories and his most frustrating defeats, Why I Fight is the story of how BJ Penn became one of only two fighters in UFC history to hold belts in two different weight classes. It is the story of a kid from Hawaii who loved to fight. It is the story of a true prodigy.

He's studied Jiu-Jitsu with the Gracies in Brazil, studied Muay Thai among Thailand's underground fighters, and instructed special operatives in the Israeli Defense Force. He is Jay Dee B. J. Penn, considered by many to be the best mixed martial artist in the world. In "Why I Fight", the ultimate champion breaks his deeply guarded silence for the first time, inviting fans into his private world both in the ring and on Hawaii, where he lives and trains. "Why I Fight" is a breathtaking journey through Penn's grueling mental and physical preparations as he prepares for the big fight. It is also a deeply personal look at this intense, dedicated man's rise from troubled youth to the first American-born winner of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Brazil. As this kick-ass training diary and memoir reveals, the road to success wasn't easy. Despite being the most talented athlete on the mixed martial arts circuit, he was, for years, one of the most undisciplined fighters and a notorious hothead whose reckless behavior nearly cost him his reputation and his career. Now, at 30, Penn reflects on his personal and professional maturation, as well as his philosophy of fighting, his controversial opinions on the UFC and mixed martial arts organizations, his training secrets, his interesting family life, his love for the place he calls home, and his many fights inside the Octagon.