Is BJ in Ace territory?

http://mmajunkie.com/news/21464/ufc-123-co-headliner-b-j-penn-taking-a-page-out-of-rich-franklins-handbook.mma

The headline of the article above got me thinking. The article itself doesn't really mention much about it. I guess the difference would be not only was BJ the WW Champion before, it wasn't that long ago he got a WW title shot.
But having lost back to back fights vs a guy that seemingly has his number. Is he just at WW taking interesting fights never reaching a title shot?

Rich Franklin would never be able to beat Anderson Silva. While BJ lost twice(on the real, ONCE) to Edgar, there is no such issue here. I don't buy into two wins meaning you automatically have an iron clad match up advantage and have a fighters "number" in every case. This isn't Chuck vs Tito.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Rich Franklin would never be able to beat Anderson Silva. While BJ lost twice(on the real, ONCE) to Edgar, there is no such issue here. I don't buy into two wins meaning you automatically have an iron clad match up advantage and have a fighters "number" in every case. This isn't Chuck vs Tito.

Yeah I agree with that. But however you have to take into consideration that those 2 losses do move BJ back in line. So how long before he could get a title shot? Frankie vs Maynard is set and so is the following match pitting the winner vs Pettis/Bendo. So how long before BJ could even get a shot? A year if he is lucky? So while the circumstances are different the situation is still similar. Not identical but still similar.

BJ Penn aint yo momma's contender though, and if he flattens Hughes tomorrow he could be right back in the title picture. I could see him needing just one LW win, or even getting a shot down the line directly from one win over Hughes.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

BJ Penn aint yo momma's contender though, and if he flattens Hughes tomorrow he could be right back in the title picture. I could see him needing just one LW win, or even getting a shot down the line directly from one win over Hughes.

Beating Hughes puts him almost there, but not quite there. Kind of like where Ace is right now. Wouldn't you agree? Now obviously it would take BJ less time to get to the top of WW but it will still take a couple fights. If Ace's fights weren't so spread out he would be in a similar position.
Like I said though it's not quit the same given BJ is a former Champion of his current division. Just thought there were some similarities in the situations.

Could a win over Hughes tomorrow really put him in position for LW title shot again? Like I mentioned before Frankie is already fighting in Jan. and already has the next fight locked up. Who knows when that fight will be and after that who knows until the title is on the line again. I would say it's just not possible a win over Hughes gets him a LW title shot barring some unforeseen circumstances with LW contenders.

Say Maynard beats Edgar. Penn vs Edgar III?

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Say Maynard beats Edgar. Penn vs Edgar III?

Im probably in the minority but I would like to see BJ vs Frankie 3.

As long as BJ flies out to another camp and does his shit right, I want to see it as well. He for whatever reason was unable to "get up" for Edgar, unlike his fights with Hughes, Pulver and GSP. Edgar is one of his great rivals hes never seemed to care about.

I think he thought he won the 1st fight and could just show up and win the 2nd. It didnt work for him and hopefully tomorrow he is the best BJ we have seen in a while cause to beat Matt he will need to be.