The Miami Beach Police Department has opened an investigation into an alleged physical altercation between UFC rivals Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington following reports and bystander video of the incident that occurred Monday night outside a popular restaurant.
In a police report obtained Tuesday by MMA Junkie, the MBPD confirmed responding to an incident labeled as a felony battery outside Papi Steak. The report does not state that charges have been filed but identifies Masvidal as the lone suspect.
Covington is not explicitly named in the police report. An MBPD information officer told MMA Junkie the alleged suspect in this incident invoked “Marsy’s Law” to protect their information. However, Masvidal identified Covington on Twitter. This happened before TMZ Sports released cell phone video of Covington speaking to police, as well as footage of Masvidal being restrained from Covington.
The police report states that officers responded to a battery call outside the restaurant at 10:54 p.m. local time. There, they met the “victim,” who fractured a tooth and suffered a wrist abrasion, alleging Masvidal ran up from his left and punched him twice in the face (once in the mouth and once in the left eye) upon leaving the restaurant. Masvidal allegedly said, “You shouldn’t have been talking about my kids.” The victim described a group of “three or four other unknown males approaching him in an aggressive manner. Police said that, at that point, the victim “pushed one of the unknown makes away and separated himself from the attackers and ran back into the Papi Steak restaurant where he contacted police.”
Covington mentioned Masvidal’s family, including his children, in the lead-up to their UFC 272 bout March 5 in Las Vegas – something Masvidal let it be known did not sit well with him.
Masvidal’s manager, Malki Kawa of First Round Management, made mention of a chipped tooth on social media prior to the release of the police report.
“I’m hearing that a someone not from miami who says he’s the king of it is missing a tooth,” Kawa tweeted. “Can someone confirm this? I need the video asap.”
“You got to be from DADE county to understand,” his brother and business partner, Abe Kawa, tweeted.
@ColbyCovMMA pic.twitter.com/IPUp61ICV1
— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) March 22, 2022
Good morning to everyone except those that think talking about someone’s kids is cool
— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) March 22, 2022
The alleged incident comes 16 days after Covington fought Masvidal for five rounds, en route to a unanimous decision win in the UFC 272 headliner. The bout was the culmination of a feud between the former best friends and American Top Team teammates who became bitter enemies as they both rose to welterweight title contender status.
Afterward, Covington, who now trains at MMA Masters, declared himself the “king of Miami,” which Masvidal took exception to. Both men indicated they would fight again outside of the octagon if they ran into each other in public.
Police said body cameras were activated during the incident in Miami Beach, but footage was not made available to MMA Junkie on Tuesday. Covington has not publicly commented on the situation.
