BJ Penn has revealed that he had a near-death experience in 2020.
Penn is renowned for his accomplishments in the world of MMA. He was just the second fighter to hold UFC titles in multiple weight classes. Couture was the first as he captured the UFC Heavyweight Title in 1997 and then the light heavyweight gold in 2003. In 2015, Penn was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Penn took to his Instagram account to look back on a scary moment last year when he was sucked into a wave pool engine.
“Last year when I got sucked into a wave pool engine room and thought I was going to die… I kept thinking ‘don’t die for your kids’ I was surfing for about an hour and the line started getting longer to catch the wave. I was sitting next to the owner of the wave pool by the ‘wall’ where the waves come from. The first wave it shoots out is a dud to get everyone ready for the next wave. The dud wave came back and because I was so close to the wall the wave swallowed me and pushed me and my surfboard underneath a huge cement wall. I remember feeling like I was getting sucked in a pipe and at that moment I got scared.”
BJ Penn went on to say he ended up suffering facial fractures and went through a sinus infection as a result.
”It ended up pushing me into a big dark cement room that fills up with water to push the next wave for the wave pool. It felt like I was in the movie SAW or Final destination. The room would fill up with water to the top and I would hold my breath and then it would push the water out to make the wave and it was really rough inside there. Everything I bumped up against in the room that hurt me got infected. I got a bad sinus infection and a couple facial fractures from getting knocked around the cement walls and from the fractures the dirty water got in my face and infected my whole sinus. I was on antibiotics for three weeks for my face.”
Penn advised anyone who someday experiences a scary situation to remain calm. He credits his time as an MMA fighter with being able to keep a level head.
