Penn refutes accusations and says he is a victim of extortion

BJ (photo) hasn't fought since July 2014. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

Former UFC champion B.J. Penn finally spoke out regarding the serious accusations revealed by a former employee of his website and stated that all the allegations made about him are false.

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At the beginning of the week, journalist Pedro Alex Carrasco stated that the Hawaiian fighter was addicted to cocaine and who had tried to sexually abuse his girlfriend. Precisely for this reason, the UFC postponed Penn's return to fighting in order to wait for the facts to be determined.

Penn's official website released a statement that denies Carrasco's accusations, reiterates the fighter's controversy-free past and claims that the athlete is being the victim of extortion by his former employee.

“The accusations that Pedro and his girlfriend are making against B.J. Penn they are simply not true. Penn trusted Pedro to update his website for nearly a decade and considered him family. He was fired last year for unethical behavior and had been receiving money from unemployment benefits, which ended on February 16. A day later, his accusations appeared in his rage on Twitter, which happened many months after the date it would have happened (August 2015)”, the text pointed out.

The statement continues: “There are many holes in Pedro’s story. In the nearly 15 years that Penn has been a champion, there have been no incidents or accusations regarding his stance toward women. He is a family man, with two young daughters with his longtime girlfriend. It’s a shame that someone who BJ considered to be family is trying to extort him,” he adds.

Penn was the UFC lightweight and welterweight champion. He had been retired from fighting since 2014, but recently announced that he would return to action and would possibly fight at UFC 197 in April.

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