Why I Fight: The Belt Is Just an Accessory

225 Pages·2010·2 MB·English

by  B. J. Penn

Why I Fight
The Belt Is Just an Accessory
BJ Penn with David Weintraub
I dedicate my book to my daughter,
to my family,
and to the future of MMA

Contents
Preface

1 The First Part
2 What I Learned
3 Unexpected Changes
4 Ralph and Dave
5 New Beginnings
6 Unfinished Business
7 Moving Forward
8 Entering the Octagon
9 Three-Fight Deal
Photographic Insert
10 Up, Then Down
11 Just Scrap
12 Title Defense
13 Full Circle
14 Opportunity Awaits
15 The Real Champ
16 On an Island
17 More Than Words

Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Copyright
About the Publisher

PREFACE
THINKING BACK TEN YEARS AGO, if someone told me I was going to write a book about myself, I
could think of a handful of people who would read it, and all of them would probably have the name Penn.
In fact, I don’t even really know if they would read it, let alone a lot of people I don’t know! I would bet my
mom would, but I am not sure how much I would wager. Even recently, when I was first approached about
writing a book, it was not something I was overly excited about. A TV show? Yeah, sure, that’s easy. They
just point the camera at you, then you kind of do your thing, whatever that thing is. A magazine article?
That can be done in one day, maybe with a flight. A book written by someone else, about me, taking
guesses about who I am? That would probably leave me with another fight on my hands. A book about
fighting? Easy. But to write a book about me, by me, to talk about my life? I have to be honest and say I
was not that excited.
Then I sat back and realized that if only one person I do not know actually picks this book up and
decides to read it, that is such a huge compliment, I cannot even explain. So while I write this book,
assuming people are going to read it, if only one person I do not know chooses to, that makes me really
happy. I want to say thank you to that person, and any person who has taken enough interest in me to
allow me to have the time in my life to actually do this. Even if you decide to read it because you do not
like me, you too have taken enough interest in me, which has given me so much in return.
I never ever thought I would be in this position in my life, and here I am. I am responsible for things, and
to other people, and to places I never even considered, or ever thought about. For a kid from Hawaii, all
of what has happened to me means a lot more than you could possibly realize.

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