BJ Penn: Former UFC Champion Arrested After Crushing ‘Friend’s’ Eye Socket Outside Maui Bar

BJ Penn, the former UFC champion known for his relentless and ferocious fighting style that decimated many other high level UFC opponents during his career, has been arrested.

Apparently, BJ wanted to once again showcase his fighting skills, this time outside the octagon. This time the fight was at a Maui bar, where BJ badly injured a man.

What’s worse, the victim was reportedly BJ Penn’s “friend.”

Some reports are calling the exchange between BJ Penn and his badly injured friend a “brawl,” and others a “fight.” But from the reports that are out there, it sounds like it was more of an attack by BJ Penn, the well-known UFC fighter, becoming unhinged for whatever reason and releasing the same violent nature that has landed other MMA fighters behind bars.

According to Hawaii News Now, BJ Penn’s penchant for fighting reared its ugly head while out drinking at a bar with a friend Saturday night in Kihei, a vacation spot popular with tourists on Maui’s South Shore.

The friend, Kuuipo Mokiao, told investigators that he intervened when BJ Penn started trying to pick a fight with some other patrons at the drinking establishment, called Kauhale’s Bar. BJ reportedly didn’t appreciate his friend Mokiao’s trying to break up the potential altercation, so the former UFC champ turned his anger toward Mokiao, and challenged him to a fight instead.

Drinking chums no more, BJ Penn and Mokiao went outside to the parking lot where Mokiao told police Penn instantly punched him in the face. Mokiao, a resident of Kahului, Maui, tried to cover up and defend himself from the professional fighter’s attack, but despite his efforts, BJ Penn gave him a thrashing, Mokiao noting that a brutal knee to the forehead was included.

According to Mokiao, security guards were able to break up the incident and BJ Penn fled the scene.

The beating BJ Penn gave to his 37-year-old friend left Mokiao with a fractured left eye socket, which was treated at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Police later located BJ Penn at a Wailea hotel, arrested him, and booked him for second degree assault.

MMAFighting.com reports that this isn’t the first time BJ Penn’s undiplomatic and violent ways have left him in hot water on the wrong side of the law for fighting.

In 2005, Penn was involved in a big fight outside of Waikiki’s Zanzabar Nightclub, where he allegedly punched a police officer in the face. Much like BJ’s alleged friend, Mokiao, the police officer had been trying to break up the fight, which led to him being on the wrong side of an aggro BJ Penn.

Though he eventually pleaded no contest in 2007 for the assault on the police officer, BJ Penn was able to whittle that down to a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault instead of a felony charge for assaulting a police officer. So, if you ever become friends with BJ Penn and meet up with him for drinks, you might want to have 911 on speed dial.

[Image via Punch Drunk Gamer]