UFC and MMA legend BJ Penn, who’s been in the news for some controversial reasons, raised his voice not too long ago about a harrowing incident of bullying. A video emerged of a young woman getting punched and kicked by a group of four teenagers. What was more disturbing was the fact that the victim was a girl with special needs, which prompted Penn to write a message on social media. “I see Hawaii’s next generation ganging up on one girl who looks like she doesn’t want any problems. WHERE IS THE ALOHA, HAWAII? WHAT’S HAPPENING TO US?”

Well, the video has alerted many people in BJ Penn’s native state of Hawaii, where the incident took down. Despite two of the culprits’ parents coming out and issuing an apology, people still feared for their children about possible attacks of such nature in the future. But guess what? There is a hope that the rate of bullying will go down in the future, as not only the former UFC champion, but several MMA fighters came together to provide a solution.

On 8 June, many MMA fighters came together to offer free self-defense classes with an appropriately named workshop called “Warriors Don’t Bully.” Many parents who have children with special needs flocked to the workshop, The workshop took place at the Hawaii Elite MMA & Fitness gym, owned by Charles Valentine Kipilii Jr., who supported the venture. “It’s a good cause, that’s why, yeah. Like, I’ve had a lot of events over here throughout the years, but this is probably the most meaningful one because of all of the bullying going on right now,” the gym owner told Hawaii News Now.

Meanwhile, one of the fighters who offered to help the children, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, weighed in on the issue of bullying. She believes that helping the victims may not be enough, insinuating that the aggressors may also have experienced some kind of trauma. “I think that a lot of those who are doing the bullying are also experiencing some sort of bullying in their own life… So we can’t forget about those who need a little bit more guidance,” the ex-Bellator fighter stated.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned self-defense workshop turned out to be a massive awareness program. Given that the incidents of bullying have become more frequent, the number of people who attended the workshop was staggering. Let’s take a look at that front.

MMA stars’ self-defense program finishes registration with hours

As we’ve mentioned already, there were many parents and a lot of people at the Hawaii Elite MMA & Fitness gym on Sunday. In fact, the registration for the workshop saw full capacity after just three hours of the process going live. Many parents showed interest in the program, as one of them, Shantelle Pereira, expressed how horrified she was when she saw the aforementioned video. Hence, bringing her child, who also has special needs, to the workshop was a no-brainer.

“That (video) broke my heart, and I immediately thought about my son,” Pereira told ‘Hawaii News Now’. “I’m like, he needs to learn self-defense, how to protect himself, because he does catch the bus by himself too, he’s out there in the public by himself too, and I’m not always there, so this is a great experience for him.” The coming together of the MMA fighters has certainly paid dividends and given the locals a hope that bullying will cease to exist.

In case some people missed out on the workshop, there is some good news for them. Due to the growing interest, the fighters are planning to hold another workshop in the future, which will also take place on other islands. In the meantime, let us know what you think of these efforts from the MMA fraternity to curb instances of bullying in the comments down below.