Gallery Photos: B.J. Penn through the years view 75 images

B.J. Penn is set to return at UFC 237 with an active restraining order against him.

Penn’s estranged partner, Shealen Uaiwa, first obtained a temporary restraining order and petition for an order of protection this past October in Hawaii Family Court, alleging the UFC Hall of Famer abused her over the course of their 10-year relationship. The order was extended after a hearing in February; it expires Oct. 8, 2021.

Uaiwa alleges Penn verbally abused and menaced her in front of their two children and her mother, threatened to kill her family, and sexually abused her, according to a written statement attached to the protective order and obtained by MMA Junkie via a public records request. She detailed several episodes of disturbing behavior over a three-year period and said they are only the most recent incidents.

Uaiwa wrote that she didn’t report Penn to authorities “because of his name, reputation, the control he has had over my life and I was scared.”

“I feel fearful for my safety and my childrens (sic) life, and for the influence he has over my children,” she wrote.

MMA Junkie was unable to reach Penn for comment. His attorney, John Schmidtke Jr., called the records “incomplete information” and said he didn’t know why the court released the documents, which he believed to be non-public. He said he couldn’t “by law” comment on the allegations against Penn because the case involves children.

According to online court records, Penn’s attorneys were denied a request to seal the proceedings. The former UFC two-division champion and 2015 UFC Hall of Fame inductee has not been arrested or charged with a crime in connection with Uaiwa’s allegations.

Penn, 40, was required to stay 100 feet away from Uaiwa and refrain from contacting her when the order was initially filed, though he was later allowed supervised visits with their two children and limited contact with her through their respective attorneys. Penn frequently posts pictures with his children on his official Instagram account.

The UFC declined to comment on the case. Penn, who came out of retirement in 2017 and has lost his past six fights, is scheduled to face Clay Guida on May 11 at UFC 237 in Rio de Janeiro.

Uaiwa first filed a temporary restraining order and order of protection on Oct. 9, two days after she said Penn, from whom she’d separated, threatened her and her mother when she went to pick up their children.

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.”

Uaiwa said Penn repeatedly abused her verbally and physically over the course of their relationship. She also said Penn tried to get her to have sex with other men and pressured her to smoke marijuana.

Several of Uaiwa’s allegations revolve around drug use. She said Penn has been a drug addict since age 14 and “uses his training camps to try and stay sober.”

“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 said Penn attacked her in their hotel room after he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, smashing her cell phone and verbally abusing her.

“Him and his friends did cocaine in the bathroom all night, while me and my children were in the room and his niece and aunty were in the living room,” she wrote.

Penn hasn’t been arrested or charged for any drug violations, per online court records, but he has been accused of drug abuse. Pedro Carrasco, an ex-employee of his website, BJPenn.com, claimed Penn was a cocaine addict at the same time his girlfriend accused him of sexual assault. Penn denied wrongdoing and said the allegations were part of a plot to extort him. Police investigated the woman’s allegations but never filed formal charges. The UFC decided against sanctioning Penn based on the lack of charges, though it reserved the right to “reevaluate the matter should new information be made available.”

The promotion previously has professed a zero-tolerance policy against domestic violence, with UFC President Dana White once declaring abusers would never “bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.” Since that statement, the promotion has deferred to the legal system, its own investigators and case-by-case assessments to determine whether abuse allegations ultimately lead to discipline.

Several UFC fighters have been arrested for domestic abuse, only to return when no formal charges were filed. This past December, the promotion sparked controversy when it allowed former NFL star Greg Hardy, who was convicted of domestic abuse in 2014, to fight on the same UFC on ESPN+ 1 card alongside Rachael Ostovich, a recent victim of domestic abuse by her estranged husband. Ostovich defended the promotion’s booking and said she didn’t judge Hardy, whose conviction was expunged when his victim failed to testify.

For more on UFC 237, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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