Jorge Masvidal has been charged with felony battery, after he allegedly was involved in an altercation with fellow UFC competitor Colby Covington outside of a Miami Beach restaurant.
Covington, who lost a tooth in the exchange, was not identified in the Miami Beach police report, but Masvidal tagged Covington in a video on social media and TMZ posted video involving Covington after the exchange.
The two UFC fighters are no strangers to one another, with Covington recording a lopsided unanimous decision over Masvidal on March 5 at UFC 272 in Las Vegas.
Covington, 34, and Masvidal, 37, renewed acquaintances outside Papi Steak on Monday at approximately 11:30pm.
Per the police report, Masvidal "ran up to [Covington] from his left and without notice, punched him with a closed fist two times in the face".
TMZ posted a video of Masvidal yelling: "You shouldn't have been talking about my kids", while being prevented from getting closer to Covington.
Covington, who told police he saw "three or four other unknown males" approaching him in an "aggressive manner", is overheard in the video saying, "He's over here swinging, trying to come at me and I ran out the back of the room". Covington then turned to social media personality and podcaster Bob Menery, and asked, "How would he even know I'm here?"
Earlier Monday, Menery shared a video to his Instagram story that showed Covington and the group's location, Papi Steak. Menery called Covington "the king of [expletive] Miami" and wrote, "@papisteak is that spotttttttt".
Masvidal then tweeted his own message, tagging Covington.
"Calling this the show-your-face challenge, you know?," he said. "Um, what's up? I'm from Dade County.
"You talk that [expletive], you got to back it up. That's how my city rolls, man."
Menery later tweeted: "Never had a problem with [Masvidal].
"Extremely disappointed in the way he decided to handle his ongoing 'beef' that has already been decided in a regulated platform. @ufc."
Reuters
