‘He is done’: UFC president says BJ Penn’s career is over

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - B.J. Penn’s Hall of Fame UFC career is officially over, according to UFC president Dana White.

While addressing the media in Abu Dhabi on Thursday ahead of UFC 242, the president of the biggest fighting promotion in the world told ESPN that the Hawaii native will never fight in the UFC again.

“He won’t fight again, that’s it,” White told ESPN. “After what I saw in that video, BJ needs to, you know, he needs to focus on his personal life before he thinks about fighting.”

The UFC was previously working on having Penn (16-14-2) fight against Nik Lentz at the end of the year, but that bout appears to be off, according to White.

“He won’t fight again, that’s it,” White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “That’s a wrap. I didn’t love him continuing to fight anyway."

White says he hasn’t personally reached out to Penn, but said Penn had been contacted by the UFC organization and notified of their decision not to book him another fight.

The decision to not let Penn enter the octagon stems from a string of bar fight videos that surfaced on TMZ showing Penn’s involvement in street fights in Hawaii.

In one video on the Big Island, a man knocks Penn to the floor with a punch to the face. In another video, Penn is seen wrestling the same man to the floor and punching him in the side of the head.

Penn was not arrested and was not charged with any wrongdoing.

The Big Island native is regarded as one of the best mixed martial artists ever to compete, and the UFC’s decision to not allow Penn to fight in the UFC could result in him finding another fighting promotion.

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