Penn name packs a punch

Saturday’s ProElite mixed martial arts event features a former UFC heavyweight champion, an Ultimate Fighter reality show winner, an NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion and an Olympic silver medalist.

In Hawaii, all of that takes a back seat to the name Penn.

ProElite’s first mixed martial arts card in more than two years scored a huge name when it announced that Reagan Penn, brother of UFC two-division champion B.J. Penn, would make his professional MMA debut.

Seventy-two hours away from stepping into the Blaisdell Arena cage, Reagan, looking calm and relaxed, said he wasn’t worried about what to expect.

“I’m just trying to live in the now,” he said. “I’m not really focused on the crowd screaming or any of that stuff.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Penn will fight Tennessee’s Paul Gardiner (3-0) in one of the six main-card bouts that begin at 7 p.m.

The full event features 11 fights, including Molokai’s Sale Sproat (6-0) and the debut of Ray Cooper Jr. on the undercard that starts at 5:30.

With names like Andrei Arlovski, Kendall Grove and even former Hawaii linebacker Jake Heun on the main card, ProElite’s first event since it promoted

EliteXC shows features a mixture of proven veterans and potential stars.

None of the up-and-comers has the potential of 30-year-old Reagan Penn, who hopes this is a springboard to a successful MMA career.

“I’ve been training to pursue this sport further but you never know until you get there,” he said. “Once I get in there we’ll know, but all of my training has been geared to keep going and see how far I can go.”

Penn, who like all three older brothers is a black belt in jiu-jitsu, said he’s had the urge to fight professionally since B.J.’s last fight in the UFC against Jon Fitch in February.

Until now, Reagan’s focus has been mostly on his brother’s career, helping primarily to run his website, BJPENN.com. He’s slowly become more involved in the training aspect, which has given him the itch to try it himself.

“For (B.J.’s) last two or three camps, I had been working with him mostly and just thought I’m getting punched in the head anyways, I might as well try it out for real,” Reagan said.

With all of the success B.J. has had in his career, one might wonder why it has taken Reagan until now to do the same.

As someone that’s around the sport every day, Reagan knows the payoff doesn’t come without a lot of sacrifice.

“People only see the glorified things in the ring, they don’t see the punishment you take outside of it,” he said. “B.J. looked like he was waking up sore a lot and it wasn’t like, ‘Wow, I want to do this too.’ ”

Reagan trained both in Hilo and in California for the fight, working at the RVCA gym in Orange County before spending time back home on the Big Island.

His brother also is in the middle of a training camp, getting ready to fight Carlos Condit at UFC 137 in Las Vegas.

While Reagan admits it’s mostly mellow hanging out with his brother, he’s also known to get after him from time to time.

“He’ll see me make the same mistakes and yell at me, ‘Come on, Reagan,’ but it’s mostly chill and it’s good to have him around,” Reagan said. “He obviously knows what to look for and knows every time I screw up.”

A press conference for the event is scheduled for today at 2 p.m. at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani with the weigh-ins Friday at the same time and place.

Tickets are still available for Saturday’s event. Doors open at 5 p.m.