Jay Dee "B.J." Penn (born December 13, 1978 in Kailua, Hawaii) is an American professional mixed martial arts fighter and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner who is currently the Ultimate Fighting Championship Lightweight Champion.

In 2000, he became the first American-born winner of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the black belt category.http://www.cbjj.com.br/resultados/2000mundial.htm Penn is also the former UFC welterweight champion and was a coach on the The Ultimate Fighter 5 reality show. After winning the lightweight title at UFC 80, he became the second fighter (after Randy Couture) to win UFC titles in two different weight classes. He is currently ranked by MMAWeekly and Sherdog as the #1 Lightweight fighter in the world.http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=12928&my_page=6http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/topten.asp?articleid=8&zoneid=15

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a U.S.-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, currently recognized as the largest MMA promotion in the world. The UFC is owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, headquarted in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The UFC began as a single-event tournament to find the world's best fighters irrespective of their style, and was based upon Brazilian vale tudo fighting. Although there were a few limited number of rules, fighting in the UFC was marketed as no holds barred, and contests were often violent and brutal. Early UFC fights were less sport than spectacle, which led to accusations of brutality and "human cock fighting" by Senator John McCain and others. Political pressures eventually led the UFC into the underground, as pay-per-view providers nixed UFC programming, nearly extinguishing the UFC's public visibility.

As political pressure mounted, the UFC reformed itself, slowly embracing stricter rules, becoming sanctioned by state athletic commissions, and marketing itself as a legitimate sporting event. Dropping the no holds barred label and carrying the banner of mixed martial arts, the UFC has emerged from its political isolation to become more socially acceptable, regaining its position in pay-per-view television.

With a cable television deal and expansion into Canada, Europe and new markets within the United States, the UFC is currently undergoing a remarkable surge in popularity, along with greater mainstream media coverage. UFC programming can now be seen on Spike in the United States and Canada, as well as in 34 other countries worldwide.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques, from a mixture of martial arts traditions and non-traditions, to be used in competitions. The rules allow the use of striking and grappling techniques, both while standing and on the ground. Such competitions allow martial artists of different backgrounds to compete. The term may also be used, less correctly, to describe hybrid martial arts styles.

Modern mixed martial arts competition emerged in American popular culture in 1993 with the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Initially based on finding the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat situations, competitors of various arts were pitted against one another with minimal rules for safety. In the following decade, MMA promoters adopted many additional rules aimed at increasing safety for competitors and to promote mainstream acceptance of the sport,. The name Mixed martial arts was coined by one of the developers of these rules Jeff Blatnick a former Greco-Roman wrestler and Olympic gold medallist Following these changes, the sport has seen increased popularity with pay per view reach rivaling boxing and professional wrestling.