David Maialetti / Philadelphia Daily News
BJ Penn signs autographs on Wednesday at the Loews Hotel in Philadelphia in advance of UFC 101. Besides his fighting skills, Penn’s vertical leap has grabbed attention, including 3.1 million YouTube views of a video showing him jumping out of a swimming pool.
Friday, Aug. 7, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.
BJ Jumps out of the Pool
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As a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Billy Cunningham knows a thing or two about vertical leaps. Hey, Cunningham was called the “Kangaroo Kid” during his playing days at North Carolina and with the 76ers, a testament to his exceptional hops.
But even Cunningham acknowledges being wowed by the YouTube video in which mixed martial arts standout BJ Penn, who stands only 5-9, jumps out of the 3-foot-deep end of a swimming pool, without holding onto the edge, and lands on his feet on dry ground.
“To jump a little more than 3 feet, out of water, out of a swimming pool, without holding onto the side? Heck, yeah, that’s impressive,” Cunningham said. “That’s a vertical leap of, what, 39 or 40 inches?
“That’s very good for any basketball player. Anything over 40 inches is phenomenal, even with a running start. To do it out of 3 feet of water, from a standing start, is almost unbelievable.”
Penn, 30, began intensive aqua-aerobics training as part of the regimen instituted five months ago by his strength-and-conditioning coach, Marv Marinovich. One day, Penn was goofing around and ended his water workout with a no-hands jump out of the pool.
“One of the guys said, ‘Hey, we could blog that,’” said Penn, who defends his UFC lightweight championship against Kenny Florian tomorrow night in UFC 101 at the Wachovia Center. “So somebody taped it while I did it again.
“I was as surprised as everybody else when it wound up on the home page of Yahoo Sports and got all those hits (an incredible 3.1 million) on YouTube. I figured it would be just another blog for my Web site. I was amazed by how the whole thing turned out.”
“That vertical jump out of water tags BJ as someone on a higher level, athletically,” Marinovich said.
Cunningham figures that for Penn to do what he did — remember, he wasn’t wearing pricey basketball shoes to aid in his liftoff — is the equivalent of a basketball player reaching the top of the square above the rim, which is Michael Jordan/Julius Erving territory.
So now comes the really amazing part of this tale of MMA’s wet wonder: On a basketball court, wearing sneakers, Penn “can’t even grab the rim,” he admits.
Go figure.
Fernandez is a reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News. The Sun and Daily News are sharing stories in covering UFC 101.
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