The past few months have not been kind to Alex Nicholson. Or, perhaps better stated, Alex Nicholson seems to be getting himself in some serious trouble. The UFC middleweight first put himself in hot water during UFC 202 when, while acting as cornerman for teammate Mike Perry, he was heard clearly mocking Hyun Gyu Lim (Perry’s opponent) with racist taunts pre-fight.

The UFC investigated his conduct and deemed it worthy of a warning, but not much more. In fact, they turned things pretty quickly back to “business as usual,” booking both Perry and Nicholson for fights in the upcoming months. Now, however, the UFC has a fresh reason to put Nicholson’s actions under the microscope, as he’s being investigated by the promotion for a May, 2016 arrest surrounding an apparent domestic violence incident.

MMA Fighting cites an Orlando Police Department arrest report, where a witness says Nicholson picked up his fiancee inside a 7-11 and carried her outside the store before dropping her on the ground. Apparently, after dropping her, bystanders had to pull Nicholson off her and then escort her back inside, locking Nicholson out.

Nicholson apparently claimed, repeatedly, that he never touched her or put his hands on anybody. Police, however, reportedly observed a contusion on his fiancee’s head. But, it seems she initially refused to identify that she knew Nicholson, and refused to fill out domestic violence paperwork after she was identified as his fiancee. Although, after further questioning, she reportedly told police that she was “afraid to be around him,” and left the scene with a friend.

It seems the courts ended up not pursuing charges, when Nicholson’s fiancee failed to appear in court and provide key testimony needed for the state to go forward with the case. However, that hasn’t stopped the UFC from doing their own third-party investigation into the events now.

"UFC reviewed the matter in question and noted that the State Attorney of Florida declined to proceed with a case against Alex Nicholson, and the case was dismissed," the UFC statement read. "UFC takes allegations of domestic violence very seriously and will refer all information to a third-party law firm for additional review. UFC is committed to thoroughly exploring all allegations and taking appropriate actions following the completion of a third-party investigation."

These third party processes have had a habit of leading to a lot of ‘inconclusive’ and generally underwhelming results. Most notably when fighter Thiago Silva was brought back to fight for the promotion, following his arrest and charges over an incident where he reportedly pulled a gun on his ex-wife and her boyfriend and then barricaded himself inside his home. Only for the UFC to release him shortly after the re-signing, when his ex started posting videos to back up the allegations she’d made about his behavior.

Nicholson’s recent history of poor public behavior may have him already on a short leash with the promotion, but given their past failures to address similar issues, it’s difficult to think they’ll go very far this time around.