BJ Penn vs Dana White on TUF 5 Inaugural Episode

By Dave Meltzer

BJ Penn seemed to go out of his way to make Dana White’s life difficult as he and Pulver chose teams. After a coin-flip, Pulver had the option of choosing a fighter first, or choosing to play matchmaker first. “Lil’ Evil” opted for the latter. Penn then asked all the fighters to raise their hand if they not only wanted to be on his team, but definitely didn’t want to be with Pulver. 10 of the 16 fighters indicated they preferred the Hawaiian jiu-jitsu black belt.

It not only put Jens on the defensive, it also forced him into a corner where he would have to swallow his pride because some of the better fighters wanted Penn. If Pulver wanted a competitive team, he would have to pick guys that didn’t pick him. BJ literally laughs as he tells the camera that he enjoyed putting the fighters in a position where they rejected Pulver. It’s clear Penn wanted to rile up Pulver and he did just that.

“I think he was trying to get everybody to raise their hand to make me look like a dumbass,” said Pulver. “He was trying to make them slap me in the face. I was upset because this ain’t about BJ Penn. This ain’t the f**king BJ Penn show.”

Pulver wasn’t the only person fed up with Penn at the fighter selection ceremony. Dana White informed BJ that he was only allowed one pick, but Penn, and even Pulver agreed, was saying that they should just have all the guys who raised their hand stand on one side and do teams that way.

“Whoa, what the f**k is going on here,” White said.

A back and forth verbal battle ensued with White continually telling Penn that he only had one pick. Penn would say, “Leave it up to the fighters,” to which White would reply, “One guy. You get one pick.”

“This is like f**king anarchy here,” said White. “One pick, you get one pick!”

(Source)