Former UFC Champ B.J. Penn Blasts Government Response, 'Land Grabs' After Maui Wildfire

B.J. Penn made a career out of fighting opponents in the octagon. But now, he's battling it out in the political arena.

The Hawaii native appeared on Jesse Watters Primetime Thursday to discuss the devastation of the recent Maui wildfires. He said the government response to the disaster combined with already-high civic distrust might just turn the blue state red.

"They say that the state is very left, and it's that type of state, but I think everybody's starting to pick up real quick about what's going on — about the agenda, about, you know, the state wants to take over everything," Penn said.

Penn continued: "Hawaii has always been a socialist-communist state, and it's time to get out of it. The people are in the position right now with this, with the… assessment property tax. It's killing everybody. Everybody's going to have to leave."

B.J. Penn Speaks Up For Native Hawaiians

Hawaii already has some of the highest taxes in the country. Now, in the aftermath of the fires, Maui residents are concerned about "land grabs" of devastated properties. Big-money developers have an opportunity to swoop in to build resorts and homes for millionaires — displacing working-class native islanders.

Penn said it's "obvious" developers are salivating over recently leveled plots In Maui. He suggested they could first target Lahaina to "set a precedent there, and then come to all the other places." 

An aerial view of Lahaina after wildfires burned through the town on the Hawaiian island of Maui. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

"I've got no problem fighting these guys for any state, city, land, one acre, a quarter-acre — whatever it is, 100 feet — we've got to fight them," he said.

B.J. Penn wants to see a change in leadership in the Aloha State. So the two-time UFC champ decided to be the change himself. Penn came in second in the 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary, but he plans to keep working toward taking power away from the government and giving it back to the people of Hawaii.

"We come here to talk about something and then you guys start fighting back with us," Penn said to officials at a recent meeting. "You work for us. You don't talk to your boss like that, right? Who talks to the boss like that? Shame."