UFC Hall of Fame inductee BJ Penn has just revealed that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in a recent outburst on social media. The MMA legend experienced a very difficult end to his career in the cage that included several personal issues, but those problems have only increased since he chose to retire from the sport. He lost 7 fights in a row across 9 years before he left MMA behind and he was experiencing legal issues even before that. From bar brawls to arrests on suspicion of DUI and even allegations of physical abuse from ex-partners, Penn has not been able to keep out of trouble with the law for very long over the past few years.
Penn also espoused some pretty unusual views in the early days after his retirement, like the belief that both dinosaurs and evolution itself are fake. At first this was largely ignored by most fans as just harmless opinions, but Penn’s social media presence has become increasingly worrying since then. He has started to claim that a number of public figures and even members of his own family have been replaced by imposters wearing convincing masks. Things came to a head when he was arrested by multiple officers earlier this year, with the official charge listed as “Abuse family or household member: offensive physical contact”.
When specific details came out about the charge, it became clear that it was directly related to his belief that members of his family have been replaced by imposters. Several fans and members of the MMA media started to speculate that Penn was dealing with mental health issues that might explain these beliefs, like Capgras Syndrome. Penn’s recent revelation that he was previously diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease might actually lend some credence to that theory, as Capgras Syndrome is a rare symptom that has been known to manifest in people with Advanced Parkinson’s Disease. Although Penn only mentions being told he has Parkinson’s in passing during a recent post, he does mention a specific drug used to treat it and it is known to have strong links to CTE.
The screenshot of BJ Penn revealing his Parkinson’s diagnosis was shared to the official Twitter account of Borrachinha depot:
