Both Shane Victorino and UFC star BJ Penn are native Hawaiians and champions in their respective sports, but until yesterday, the pair have never met face-to-face. Thankfully, the Ultimate Fighting Championship fellas are in town for the pay-per-view extravaganza where BJ will put his undefeated lightweight record on the line vs. the pasty Kenny Florian, so these two finally got a proper introduction. Yesterday afternoon, Shane headed on over to the Loews Hotel on 12th & Market and met up with BJ prior to his scheduled workout. Then I imagine they talked about Macadamia Nuts, that song “Tiny Bubbles”, Affliction gear, hitting home runs, and beating the living shit out of another human being. (Is it obvious that I know nothing about UFC?)

Anyway, the Daily News resident fight expert Bernard Fernandez was there as well, and he got some Shane quotes. Here’s my favorite; Shane talking about other Phillies players being into MMA:

“There’s a lot more guys than you’d think,” he confided. “Jayson Werth holds some small fights in his home city [Springfield, Ill.]. Raul Ibanez does some MMA training in the offseason, for cardiovascular stuff. [Ryan] Howard’s into it. Jimmy [Rollins] likes it. Scott Eyre’s a big fan. You can keep going down the list.”

Did Shane just out Jayson Werth for holding illegal MMA fights during the offseason? No questions asked.

Victorino, Phillies teammates are fans of MMA | Daily News
Photo: David Maialetti/Daily News

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