(“The Immortal” Matt Brown)

UFC Fighter Assaults His Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Coach

UFC fighter Matt Brown has recently admitted to assaulting his now-former BJJ coach, Rodrigo Botti.

This is what “The Immortal” Matt Brown, who is set to face Johny Hendricks at UFC 185 next month, had to say about the altercation:

Alright I gotta say something now I suppose. I have WAY bigger fish to fry, but I can’t help it anymore being that my name is being defamed by a former friend. Yes, I punched the him in the face. No, I am not a violent person. I was provoked. I was pushed first. He put his hands on me first and then cried to the police about it after. That is a bitch move. Not how 2 grown ass men sort things out. I’m not going to give the long version and I’m not going to comment a lot about it. I don’t need the stress and I don’t feel like I need to expend the energy on someone so pathetic. I just absolutely have to let everyone know that I was pushed first and also walked away first and have stayed away and tried to let things simmer down (to no avail). So no more OCC for me for now. Hopefully people see through the lies and see the truth of the matter. I’m not perfect but I’m not in the wrong here. That’s it.

Botti, who operates the Ohio Combat Club where Brown trains, possesses a 6-0 professional record in MMA and was signed with Bellator MMA. However an eye injury and resulting surgeries have forced him to the sidelines and he no longer shows up on the organization’s roster.

Botti posted his account of the incident on his Facebook page:

Well, I wouldn’t say anything here and let the law system speak but looks like the other side of the story is posting things on facebook and trying to get people with them. Here is what happened clear and simple. This UFC fighter who I coached til the day of the incident assaulted me with multiple punches in the head while I was seating in the chair behind the desk. Makes even worse when he knew about my eye condition and the eye surgery that I had only 3 weeks before the day he assaulted me. He also knew I had 16 internal stitches in my eye. Those stitches popped from 2pm to 7pm according the doctor and I had another surgery yesterday. In fact I had 4 surgeries in this eye in the last 15 months and he knew about my struggle with this eye.

We will see in the coming days what results from this altercation. As of now the UFC has kept quiet about the situation. It has been an interesting year for the organization to say the least. Hopefully another great fight doesn’t end up being marred with controversy.