A video surfaced this week of what appeared to BJ Penn owning another unlucky dude in a street fight. While that is frowned upon we doubted Dana White would do anything about it because Penn wasn’t injured and he won the fight. This latest video may have lasting consequences.
Penn is on a record 7 fight losing streak and was planning on fighting again but the problems stemming from the above video are bigger than you would think.
Firstly a knockout is a knockout and the brain damage is pretty much the same in and out of The Octagon. Dana White seeing this video will be left with the image of Baby J laying motionless on the ground examining the back of his eyelids. This will further prove to him that it is indeed time for Penn to retire and we agree. Editor Jack Bratcher and I both find things like this hard to watch especially since BJ is such a beloved fighter in the MMA community. Unfortunately he is a shell of his former self beloved or not.
Penn might leave the UFC if White decides to force him in to retirement and as sad as it is other organizations will surely pick him up to spike ratings. This is reminiscent of the time Kurt Angle was released from the WWE for substance abuse and TNA quickly jumped at signing him before he could seek treatment. They most likely knew about his problem but ratings probably mattered more for the struggling company. We weren’t present for their decision making meetings but is it a stretch to think they knew and didn’t care?
BJ clearly doesn’t think before he acts because this could end his UFC career and he would lose a healthy possibly final paycheck. We hope someone intervenes and helps him understand he isn’t The Prodigy of old and that he gets his life straight.