UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn comes up short in bid to become Hawaiian governor

B.J. Penn won’t be holding political office in Hawaii.

The UFC Hall of Famer lost the Republican primary by a wide margin on Saturday, garnering just 22.2 percent of the vote. Two-time Republican Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona won by receiving 47.5 percent of the vote and will go against Democratic representative Josh Green in the general election on Nov. 8.

Penn announced his intention to run for governor this past October with a campaign that focused heavily on lifting COVID-19-related restrictions in Hawaii.

“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 last October. “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 43-year-old Penn is a former two-division UFC champion. He last fought at UFC 237 in May 2019, dropping a unanimous decision to Clay Guida for his seventh consecutive defeat in the promotion. Penn has had numerous run-ins with the law in recent years, including a recent arrest on suspicion of DUI early last year. He was also investigated for a possible DUI in Hilo, Hawaii, after flipping his truck in February 2020, and in 2019, Penn was captured on video in what appeared to be a bar fight outside the Lava Shack and in a  fight with a bouncer outside a Hawaii strip club in a separate incident.

Penn had never held a political position prior to his campaign for governor.