Penn Claims Self Defense

On Wednesday, videos were released of former UFC champion B.J. Penn getting into two separate brawls with a man outside of a bar in his native Hawaii.

One video saw Penn mounting the man and punching him repeatedly in the face, while the other which was allegedly before Penn’s attack, saw both men scuffle, Penn invite the man to hit him, then see the UFC Hall of Famer hit the deck following a 2 piece, sans soda.

In a story published by MMA Junkie, Penn’s close friend, Gary Levitt, claimed that Penn was blindsided by the other man, and was acting in self-defense.

“I spoke to B.J., and B.J.’s like, ‘No, I did nothing,’” Levitt said via a statement obtained by MMA Junkie. The unidentified man who went toe-to-toe with Penn, however, says it was him who was hit with the cheap shot from Penn.

“He said the guy punched him, and many, many people saw it, and (the guy) punched him again, and he went, ‘Stop, what are you doing?’” Levitt said of the first video that was released was actually after Penn was sucker-punched.

“And he said (the man) must have punched him at least four times, and some people are saying it was more like seven or eight times. B.J. did not do anything, meaning (he) didn’t fight back. He was just backing up and saying, ‘Hey.’”

Levitt said that Penn feels he did nothing wrong and that unlike prior instances, he was not intoxicated at the time of the incident.

The same report featured comments from a spokesperson for the Hawaii Police Department, stating the incident was diffused by the time officers arrived at the scene, meaning no arrests. Compounding that is that those on the scene claimed to have not seen the incident take place, and that if an official complaint was made then and only then would an investigation could be performed.

Initial Report: MMAJunkie