5/30/25: BJ Penn Arrested Twice For Alleged Abuse of Family Member
Also: Kevin Lee signs with the PFL, "The Ultimate Fighter" returns, and more
Welcome to a Friday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s newsletter has a quick rundown of all the top MMA stories that have happened so far this week, getting you all caught up as you start your weekend. We have three main stories for you, plus tons of fight news in the notes section of today’s newsletter. Let’s get started.
BJ Penn Arrested For Abuse of Family Member, Mother of Former Champ Files For Restraining Order
Disturbing details have emerged surrounding former UFC Champion BJ Penn this week, with those close to the seasoned MMA fighter alleging that he’s going through psychological issues and taking them out on others.
46-year-old Penn has been arrested twice in recent days, getting charged with abuse of a household or family member in both instances.
A video posted to Penn’s Instagram this week shows him being taken into custody by police in Hawaii, who surrounded his bed and placed him in handcuffs once he stood up and chose to cooperate with them.
Penn is seen in the video questioning police about his arrest: “How can I be under arrest for harassment? This is my house,” he’s heard saying at one point.
Small four-figure bonds were listed for both of Penn’s arrests.
The arrests come as Penn’s mother, Lorraine Shin, recently filed a restraining order against the ex-UFC champ, alleging that he has caused “extreme psychological abuse.”
The filing details allegations of Penn being under an illusion that his mother has been replaced by someone else who “killed his family and has taken over” her identity, documents first uncovered by MMA Fighting say.
Shin mentions her belief that Penn is suffering from Capgras syndrome, a “delusional misinformation” syndrome which sees people fall under a delusion that close family or friends have been replaced by others.
The allegations from Penn’s mother line up with confusing and outright worrying social media posts that have been published by the former MMA fighter in recent weeks.
Many posts have referred to family members as “identity thieves,” frequently mentioning his mother, among others.
Last month, Penn posted a collage of photos of family members and told the Police department that they were “all murdered,” trying to prove in his post that they had been replaced.
“F*** you to any impostors doing this to anyone else’s family,” Penn wrote earlier this month, after listing off numerous friends and family members whom he alleges are now “fake.”
Shin alleged in her restraining order request that large amounts of her belongings, including clothes, shoes, jewelry, her bed, driver’s license, credit card, and locks, turned up missing in the house within a week’s time in mid-May. Penn denied knowing anything about stolen items.
Security cameras and locks were installed in the house by Shin shortly thereafter, although she claims on numerous instances that Penn had attempted to obstruct the cameras and break the deadbolt lock installed in her bedroom door.
Following a dispute regarding whether Penn took Shin’s mail, it’s alleged that the former UFC fighter shined a flashlight in her face to prevent a 911 call, then grabbed her arms and shoved her into the side of a car. Penn was arrested later that evening.
Shin’s filing asked for a six-month restraining order, as well as an order for Penn to seek medical treatment “or other source of therapy.”
Penn previously attempted to file a restraining order against Shin in April, but a judge shot it down, stating the “allegations do not establish a basis for relief.”
Penn rose to prominence in MMA during the 2000s, making his debut in the sport under the UFC banner. After a brief welterweight title run in 2004, Penn would later go on a multi-year run with the lightweight title, defending the belt three times before dropping it to Frankie Edgar in 2010.
Penn’s last MMA appearance was in 2019, when he dropped a decision to Clay Guida and suffered his seventh consecutive defeat.
Ex-UFC Fighter Kevin Lee Signs With The PFL, Tossed Into Lightweight Semi-Final Booking
An unexpected name has joined the semi-final round of PFL’s “World Tournament.”
Ex-UFC fighter Kevin Lee has reached a deal with the PFL and will make his debut as part of the promotion’s ongoing lightweight tournament, per an announcement made Wednesday.
Lee will headline the promotion’s June 20th card in Wichita, Kansas against the 2024 lightweight champ Gadzhi Rabadanov. The Russian contender was previously expected to face Jay Jay Wilson, but was in need of a new opponent after a broken jaw forced Wilson off the card.
The “Mo-Town Phenom” is best known for being a player in UFC’s lightweight division in the mid-2010s, piecing together a run of nine wins within 10 fights to earn a high-profile matchup against Tony Ferguson by 2017.
Lee exited the UFC roster in 2022, inking a deal to compete in upstart MMA promotion Eagle FC. His run with the promotion ended up lasting just one fight, as the Russian-based brand only ran two shows in the U.S. overall.
The upcoming fight is the first major MMA booking for Lee in years. The last time many saw him was back in 2023, when his return to the UFC lasted all but 55 seconds against Rinat Fakhretdinov.
Lee bounced back from that defeat in September, returning to the regional scene with a first-round submission win over Brazilian vet Thiago Oliveira.
Lee was one of many notable MMA fighters who were planning on competing as part of the Global Fight League (GFL) earlier this year. However, after the promotion folded before their first event, he started to pursue other options.
The first PFL test for Lee is a tough one. Rabadanov hasn’t lost since moving over to the American MMA scene back in 2021, and is coming off a year that saw him score four consecutive victories. Rabadanov needed just 32 seconds to beat former UFC talent Marc Diakiese in the quarter-final of this year’s lightweight tournament, putting him away early with strikes.
Lee’s unexpected signing threw him into a tournament that already had its opening round. But he has to take down the promotion’s best lightweight—and arguably one of the best non-UFC lightweights in the world—to capitalize on the moment.
Joseph Morales Begins ‘The Ultimate Fighter’s’ 20th Anniversary With Quick Submission Win
A special 20th anniversary season of “The Ultimate Fighter” kicked off this Tuesday with a quick win for ex-UFC fighter Joseph Morales.
Representing Team Chael Sonnen, flyweight Morales overcame LFA Flyweight Champion Eduardo “Chapolin” Henrique from Team Daniel Cormier on the season premiere of “TUF 33” this week.
In a season that will feature prospects at welterweight and flyweight vying for UFC contracts through eight-man, single-elimination tournaments, the show opened with a first-round submission win for 125-pound fighter Morales. After somewhat struggling on the feet against Henrique, Morales secured a takedown against the Brazilian prospect in the opening round and was able to take the back for a rear naked choke submission moments later.
While most competing on this year’s “TUF” are hoping to get into the UFC for the first time, Morales is trying for a second chance in the promotion by fighting through the flyweight bracket. Morales previously joined the UFC back in 2017 as an undefeated prospect boasting a record of eight wins.
Morales won his promotional debut against Roberto Sanchez, although a stoppage loss to future flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo and a split decision defeat to Eric Shelton sounded the end of his time with the promotion just a year later.
The Team Alpha Male-trained fighter had rebuilt himself on the regionals following his brief first UFC stint, securing a trio of wins since 2021. Now with a win over the overall first pick in this year’s season of the reality show, Morales has sent a message in the first week.
Henrique was coming off a pair of title victories from notable MMA promotion LFA, stopping prospects Cody Davis and Igor Siqueira in recent years.
Next week’s episode will see Team Sonnen try to add a second win to their record, enlisting welterweight prospect Richard Martins to take down Team Cormier’s Danil Donchenko.
Martins has shown promise on the Brazilian regional scene in recent years, entering his first-round “TUF” fight after eight consecutive wins in his home country. 23-year-old Donchenko entered the show after a pair of title victories in the notable Kazakhstani promotion Naiza FC last year.
Here’s a quick rundown of the teams for this year’s season:
Daniel Cormier’s Flyweights: Eduardo Henrique (13-2), Idiris Alibi (10-0), Imanol Rodriguez (5-0), Tumelo Manyamala (6-1)
Daniel Cormier’s Welterweights: Rodrigo Sezinando (8-1), Danil Donchenko (11-2), Jeff Creighton (11-2-1), Alex Sanchez (15-3)
Chael Sonnen’s Flyweights: Joseph Morales (12-2), Furkatbek Yokubov (14-4), Roybert Echeverria (10-2), Arshiyan Memon (7-0)
Chael Sonnen’s Welterweights: Diego Bianchini (9-1), Matt Dixon (11-1), Richard Martins (9-1), Andreeas Binder (10-2)
Notes On: UFC, PFL, OKTAGON, CFFC & More
UFC
A petition for the UFC to strip Jon Jones of his heavyweight title has received a whopping 130,000 signatures. When we last checked in on it a week prior, it had around 33,000 signings. Safe to say, fans are creating quite the hoopla about Jones not unifying the division’s titles with Tom Aspinall.
Monday’s preview issue included a change to Saturday’s UFC lineup, but I forgot to specify what exactly happened: Ramiz Brahimaj (11-5) and Billy Ray Goff (9-3) are paired up at welterweight for this weekend after their original opponents withdrew from the card, both due to visa issues. Brahimaj was originally booked against rising Welsh prospect Oban Elliott (12-2), and Ray Goff was expected to meet Korean newcomer Ko Seok-hyun (11-2). Now, since Elliott and Ko were forced off the card, they have been matched for UFC’s June 21st event in Azerbaijan. It’s all a little confusing, I know.
UFC also announced one more change for Saturday’s show: Illness has taken MarQuel Mederos (10-1) out of his lightweight fight against Bolaji Oki (9-2). Replacing him will be Michael Aswell (10-2), a former Fury FC champ who came up short on the “Contender Series” last year but has since bounced back with another win on the Texas regional scene.
A change has also hit next weekend’s UFC 316 card. Uros Medic (10-3) is out of a welterweight clash against Khaos Williams (15-4). Replacing him is Albert Tadevosyan (13-3-1), a prospect who has competed on the U.S. regionals since 2014. He’s on a particularly hot run currently, having pieced together six consecutive finish wins, including a pair of regional title victories. It’s still a massive step-up to face Williams, a nine-fight UFC vet who is looking to bounce back from a submission loss against Gabriel Bonfim from February.
Terrance McKinney (16-7) and Viacheslav Borschev (8-5-1) will face off at UFC 317 on June 28th, MMA Junkie recently confirmed. Win or lose, McKinney is an explosive fighter, as he has yet to go the distance in 10 UFC bouts. His last fight went just over two minutes, putting away Damir Hadzovic with ground and pound. Borshchev had a rough start to his year, dropping a decision against Tom Nolan in February.
Another fight for 317: Undefeated Hyder Amil (11-0) will try for a fourth consecutive UFC win when he faces Jose Delgado (9-1), per Nolan King of MMA Junkie. After scoring back-to-back finish wins in his rookie year as a UFC fighter, Amil recently kept his undefeated streak alive with a split decision over William Gomis in March. Delgado, who has only gone the distance once in his career, won his UFC debut earlier this year via first-round finish against Connor Matthews.
UFC has announced four more fights for their July 12th show in Nashville, which is expected to be headlined by Derrick Lewis vs. Tallison Teixeira:
Veterans will meet at welterweight when Jake Matthews (21-7) and Chidi Njokuani (25-10) collide. Matthews has been on somewhat of a roll over the past year, beating Francisco Prado and Phil Rowe. Njokuani will look to extend his longest UFC win streak to date to four in a row, following up on a finish win over Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos from March.
Chris Curtis (31-12) will look to avoid a third consecutive UFC loss when he moves down to welterweight and meets Max Griffin (20-11). Curtis was on the receiving end of a last-second head kick knockout loss to Roman Kopylov earlier this year, ending a fight that was tied heading into the third round. Before then, he also dropped a five-round split decision to Brendan Allen. This will be his first welterweight appearance since he was fighting on the regionals back in 2021. Griffin is coming back after being submitted by Michael Chiesa last year.
23-year-old middleweight prospect Ateba Gautier (7-1) will try to follow up on his impressive UFC debut when he meets Robert Valentin (10-5). Gautier earned a first-round finish in March against Jose Medina, his sixth straight stoppage as a pro. The Cameroonian is now set to face “The Ultimate Fighter” finalist Valentin, who has gone winless through two UFC bouts.
Junior Tafa (6-3) will move down to light heavyweight for the first time in his UFC career when he meets Tuco Tokkos (10-5). While Tafa has fought at light heavyweight before, the upcoming bout will be his first time competing at the limit since he became a UFC fighter in 2023. He’s returning after a win over short-notice opponent Sean Sharaf last year. Tokkos is searching for his first UFC victory after dropping a pair of bouts in 2024. This matchup was originally planned for an early May card.
Veteran UFC talent Michael Johnson (23-19) will take on Daniel Zellhuber (15-2) at UFC 318 on July 19th, Mike Heck of MMA Fighting wrote this week. 30-fight UFC vet Johnson can earn his first three-fight winning streak since 2015 with a win here, following up on victories over Ottman Azaitar and Darrius Flowers from last year. Zellhuber is looking to get back into the win column after being on the losing side of a competitive three-round fight against Esteban Ribovics at UFC’s Sphere card in 2024. This fight was initially expected for UFC 317 before reportedly landing on the promotion’s July pay-per-view.
Eryk Anders (17-8) is set to meet Christian Leroy Duncan (11-2) at UFC’s August 9th event, his management team announced. Anders has the chance for his first-ever three-fight UFC winning streak, coming back after defeating Jamie Pickett and Chris Weidman last year. Former Cage Warriors champ Leroy Duncan is riding the momentum of a decision win over UFC newcomer Andrey Pulyaev.
Kai Asakura (21-5) will return against Tim Elliott (20-13-1) at UFC 319 on August 16th, per posts made by both fighters recently. Former RIZIN champ Asakura was thrown into the deep end last year upon arrival in the UFC, immediately taking on flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja. This is a much fairer booking for him and will be a more realistic representation of how he can do against legit fighters at 125 pounds. Elliott has been out of the cage for over a year, with his last fight being a submission win against Sumudaerji in late 2023.
UFC has confirmed that their August 2nd card will take place at the APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
PFL
Andrey Koreshkov (28-6) has withdrawn from PFL’s June 12th show in Nashville, where he was expected to meet Magomed Umalatov (17-1) in a welterweight tournament alternate bout. Umalatov will instead face Anthony Ivy (15-7), who has quietly put together an impressive seven-fight winning streak since 2023.
A fight between French vet Yves Landu (21-9) and Asael Adjoudj (9-1) has also been added to the undercard.
All four of PFL Europe’s quarter-final bantamweight fights have been re-booked for their July 5th show in Brussels, Belgium. The bouts were expected for a card in France earlier this month before the show was suddenly cancelled. The re-booked fights include: Dean Garnett (12-3-1) vs. Alexander Luster (9-2), Mahio Campanella (7-1) vs. Matiss Zaharovs (7-3), Anas Azizoun (5-1) vs. Gustavo Oliveira (10-2), and Julien Pierre Lopez (7-4-1) vs. Jan Cieplowski (8-0). It has also been revealed that a bout between former UFC talent Taylor Lapilus (21-4) and 2024 PFL MENA winner Ali Taleb (12-1) has been moved to the card.
OKTAGON
OKTAGON 79 will go down at the SAP Garden in Munich, Germany on November 22nd. The card will be their second trip to the city this year, with their previous event taking place just earlier this month. The 11,000-capacity venue was previously visited by the promotion in late 2024.
CFFC
Ex-UFC fighter Kyle Daukaus (15-4) has withdrawn from his CFFC Middleweight Championship fight on June 6th against Chris Brown (11-5). Former PFL fighter Brown will instead compete for a vacant interim title against Randall Wallace (23-10-1), a regional vet of over a decade who is riding the momentum of three victories, including a win just earlier this month against Kyle Stewart.
Misc.
Mike Mazzulli will no longer be the President of the Association of Boxing Commissions by August, per Cageside Press. He noted in a statement that he’s “ready to pass on the leadership position,” but will continue working with the Mohegan Tribe’s commission. A vote will determine the next president at the annual meetings, which are in New Orleans this year. Cageside Press has some great insight in their article about why it matters specifically now that Mazzulli is leaving - I highly recommend you give their report a quick read.
One last note: The next newsletter will likely be Sunday, recapping all the madness from UFC, RIZIN, and tons of other regional shows we’re monitoring. Apologies for fewer posts recently - I’ve been busier than usual with work as of late, and it’s taken some time to adapt to. Cheers to everyone who continues to read these and supports the work. There’s a lot more to come!