UFC’s B.J. Penn accused of domestic and sexual abuse by partner, restraining order issued

Bloodyelbow.com

Things continue to seem bleak for former UFC champion B.J. Penn. Documents obtained by MMA Junkie have revealed a restraining order that has been filed against him, and has since been extended until October of 2021.

(Content warning – domestic violence, sexual content, suicidal ideations)

The initial order required Penn to remain at least 100 feet from his estranged partner Shealen Uaiwa, as well as a no-contact order, but he was later granted limited contact as well as supervised visits to see their two children. This information all came to light as a result of Penn’s attorneys being unable to keep the proceedings sealed.

The accusations documented include threats, verbal and physical abuse, and sexual coercion during the course of their relationship. In addition, Penn was accused of pressuring Uaiwa into consuming cannabis and engaging in sexual activities with other men.

Some of the accusations are indeed quite harrowing, as noted in statements written by Uaiwa:

Penn, she wrote, “came up to the car threatening my mother that he will kick her dumb (expletive) ass out of her house, he was harashing (sic) me and my mother with verbal abuse, calling us (expletive), manipulators, stealers. I was trying to get out of the driveway and he was making it hard like he wanted to attack me and my mom through the window. My children witnessed this incident.”
During the altercation, she said Penn told her, “because your (sic) not a man you think you can’t get knocked the (expletive) out.” She claimed Penn threatened to kill her brother and her whole family, and tried to wrestle her down and take her phone.
On Oct. 5, she said their 11-year old daughter told her she would “rather jump off our balcony at our home than hang out with her father.”

Other allegations involve drug use and mental health concerns:

“I woke up one night to him scared because he got cocaine on my oldest daughter,” she wrote. “He was freaking out and he wanted to commit suicide.”

Uaiwa also claimed that in another incident Penn attacked her in their hotel room on the night of his induction to the UFC Hall of Fame, a situation in which he was allegedly verbally abusive and apparently damaged her cellphone after a night of cocaine use with his friends in the bathroom.

Penn has had multiple interactions with the law over the years. In 2007 he pleaded no contest to assaulting a police officer following a bar fight in Hawaii. In 2015 he was arrested after another bar fight where he brawled with one of his friends. And in 2016, he was accused of sexual assault and drug use by a former writer on his website, who claimed that Penn forced himself on the writer’s girlfriend. Police did investigate that incident, but elected to not press charges.

Penn is scheduled to face Clay Guida next month in Rio at UFC 237, and has lost his last six fights overall. The UFC has yet to publicly comment on this matter.