2016 has gone from bad to worse for The Ultimate Fighter season 14 winner Diego Brandao. According to a report by the Albuquerque Journal‘s Katy Barnitz and Geoff Grammer, which Fox Sports’ Damon Martin later confirmed, the featherweight has been arrested for an alleged attack outside an Albuquerque, New Mexico, strip club.
According to the Journal, Brandao (20-11) allegedly had a verbal altercation with a DJ at the strip club Knockouts on Thursday night. He left the club and was refused re-entry, which led to an alleged attempt to “force his way in by throwing punches.” He left a second time before allegedly returning with a handgun. Things escalated from there, according to reports obtained by the Journal:
Brandao reportedly pointed the gun at the patron’s chest and then at the employee before striking him in the face with the butt of the handgun, police said. The man said Brandao pointed the gun at the group once more before walking back to his vehicle, according to the complaint.
He was taken into custody Friday on charges of “aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault and willful assault with a deadly weapon,” according to Fox Sports.
While Brandao is a talented fighter, he has had numerous issues out of the cage. In 2013 one of the Brazilian’s opponents, Dustin Poirier, claimed that he had threatened to stab him in the neck. Brandao later claimed he actually told him he would “stab him with a pen,” in an interview with MMAFighting.com‘s Guilherme Cruz.
More recently, Brandao failed an in-competition drug test after of his UFC 195 loss Brian Ortega for marijuana metabolites. He would lose the fight via technical knockout.
It is not currently known what legal hurdles lie ahead for Brandao, but he is likely to face some manner of punishment from the UFC. Keep an eye out for more updates on this story as they break.
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