Federal mandates? Not on BJ’s watch!
Former UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn, who also held gold at 170 pounds, recently retired from mixed martial arts (MMA) after losing his seventh straight bout, but don’t expect the 42 year-old “Prodigy” to stop fighting.
In fact, the Hawaiian is now expected to tackle his toughest opponent to date: U.S. politics.
Penn plans to run for Governor of Hawaii, according to Tuesday’s announcement, and let’s hope his campaign advisors had the foresight to remind him that parking lot brawls and backwoods machete attacks are generally frowned upon in the mainstream media.
Obscenity-filled DUI arrests, however, are relatively normal.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life but I would never run from a fight or sell out my people,” Penn wrote on Instagram. “As soon as I step into Hawaii’s Governor office I will remove all new federal and state mandates that have been hurting our economy, residents, and ‘ohana. We will get the best doctors, medicines, therapies, and health care the world has to offer to fight this pandemic and always keep Hawaii among the safest and healthiest states in the union. We will get rid of all vaccine passports. Hawaii will be a vaccinated with Aloha and Unvaccinated with Aloha policy for everyone. Same with the masks. We will follow the constitution to the tee. I am not here to fit in with the other politicians, I am here to get our freedoms back!”
The return of “Motivated BJ!”
Current Governor David Ige has no plans to lift the restrictive COVID protocols for “The Aloha State,” widely-seen as the most prohibitive in the nation. Even Lt. Gov. Josh Green — who will oppose Penn in the 2022 race — has called for Ige to scale back.
Based on Penn’s social media statement, it would appear “The Prodigy” is hoping to use the public’s impatience with Ige as his springboard into office, though a lot can change between now and next fall. In addition, the former UFC champ would need to convince voters that he’s not going to have a meltdown while in office.
Perhaps this boozy brawler can be his running mate?