How much of a local celebrity is BJ Penn? (Hilo: prices, gym)

[Tiger Beer]

To those who may not know him...he's a very popular mixed martial artist.



Photos from: B.J. Penn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



I saw one of his UFC fights, and he deeply impressed me. Even better was seeing that he hailed from Hilo, Hawaii.

[hotzcatz]

He's a nice quiet guy if you just meet him. A regular sort of person, doesn't dress flashy or show off. Nice smile and a cute dimple, kinda looks like a fire fighter or a life guard sort of fellow - quiet but competent sort, ya know? A nice respectable humble sort of person, but I only met him once and I didn't know who he was. Figured he was just this other person's friend and wondered what he had done to his ears. All that boxing or martial arts or whatever has created a lot of keloid thickening on his ears and I was trying to figure out if it was the way his ears were or if he had done something special to them. BJ just seemed like a nice respectable person with ears that were different so it didn't seem like anything he'd done to his ears on purpose. When his friend finally introduced his friend as "BJ" then it made sense that it was keloid from years of being hit during martial arts. He has a martial arts studio in Hilo town if you wanted to take classes with him.

I don't personally keep track of how popular he is, but everyone seems to know him. He seems well respected as well as famous which is a good thing. Not all famous people are respectable.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

He's a nice quiet guy if you just meet him. A regular sort of person, doesn't dress flashy or show off. Nice smile and a cute dimple, kinda looks like a fire fighter or a life guard sort of fellow - quiet but competent sort, ya know? A nice respectable humble sort of person, but I only met him once and I didn't know who he was. Figured he was just this other person's friend and wondered what he had done to his ears. All that boxing or martial arts or whatever has created a lot of keloid thickening on his ears and I was trying to figure out if it was the way his ears were or if he had done something special to them. BJ just seemed like a nice respectable person with ears that were different so it didn't seem like anything he'd done to his ears on purpose. When his friend finally introduced his friend as "BJ" then it made sense that it was keloid from years of being hit during martial arts. He has a martial arts studio in Hilo town if you wanted to take classes with him.

I don't personally keep track of how popular he is, but everyone seems to know him. He seems well respected as well as famous which is a good thing. Not all famous people are respectable.

I wonder what prices a professional mixed martial artist would change for lessons?

That's cool though, that you've met him, and he's a great guy as well. Seems like a great guy.

[hotzcatz]

He has a martial arts studio in Hilo. It's where the noodle and cracker place used to be over on Kinoole street.Penn Training & Fitness - The Best Gym in Hilo! I haven't a clue what he would charge for lessons, we didn't chat about martial arts when I met him, we were visiting his friend when he dropped by. From the way he seemed, the way his training studio looks and the general overall of being in Hilo itself, I'd guess you'd get some world class training at a really reasonable price. If you were in to martial arts, it might be worthwhile to see if you could take some lessons while on vacation or does that sort of thing work that way?