BJ Penn, a former two-division UFC champion, has made a bold accusation that’s got fans and fighters talking. In recent Instagram posts, “The Prodigy” claimed that women’s bantamweight champ Kayla Harrison and stars like Georges St-Pierre, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Islam Makhachev used body doubles to cheat weigh-ins.
Penn’s Legacy and Recent Struggles
BJ Penn is a true MMA legend. He’s one of only three fighters to win UFC titles in two weight classes, taking the lightweight belt in 2008 and the welterweight belt in 2004. His 16-14-2 record includes fights against big names like Matt Hughes, Frankie Edgar, and Lyoto Machida. Penn’s last UFC fight was a loss to Clay Guida in 2019, ending a seven-fight losing streak. Since retiring, he’s been in the news more for legal troubles and odd behavior than his octagon achievements.
In June 2025, Penn claimed his mother and brother were killed and replaced by impostors, a belief tied to a rare condition called Capgras syndrome. The Hilo Family Court in Hawaii denied his requests for an identity test for his mother, along with demands for housing and lifting a restraining order. Now, Penn’s latest Instagram posts have taken his theories further, targeting some of MMA’s biggest names.
Penn’s Serious Claims
Penn’s posts focus on Kayla Harrison, who won the women’s bantamweight title with a second-round submission over Julianna Peña at UFC 316 in June 2025. He believes she used a body double to hit the 135-pound weight limit.
“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task of life is finding reality! is what it is. The masked cnts don’t have to take a drug test or weigh in. What an advantage that is,” Penn wrote on Instagram, sharing photos of Harrison at the UFC 316 weigh-ins.
He pointed out her drained look on the scale compared to fight night, suggesting something shady.
He went further, stating:
“Many of my opponents didn’t even lose a pound,” in another post with Harrison’s weigh-in photos.
Penn then called out Georges St-Pierre, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Islam Makhachev, saying:
“I am sure, GSP? Khabib? Makhachev never weighed in!”
These are huge names—St-Pierre, a two-division champ with a 26-2 record; Nurmagomedov, the undefeated 29-0 lightweight great; and Makhachev, the current lightweight champ at 26-1. Penn’s accusing them of dodging a key rule in MMA.
Harrison, a two-time Olympic judo gold medalist with a 17-1 record, said the UFC 316 weight cut was tough, even thinking about retiring the night before. Her strong win over Peña proved her preparation was real. No evidence backs Penn’s body double claims, and the UFC’s weigh-in process, run by athletic commissions with drug tests and ID checks, is tightly controlled.
Penn’s accusations about St-Pierre, Nurmagomedov, and Makhachev are hard to believe. All three faced heavy oversight during their careers, with no solid reports of weigh-in fraud. St-Pierre last fought in 2017, Nurmagomedov retired in 2020, and Makhachev made weight for his recent title defense against Dustin Poirier in 2024. Joe Rogan, on his podcast, has voiced concern about Penn’s mental health, saying these claims fit a pattern of troubling behavior.
