It looks like local authorities have taken Fabricio Werdum’s boomeranging of Colby Covington seriously, setting a court date for December following Covington’s assurance that he would press charges.
Looks like Australian authorities haven’t taken kindly to Fabricio Werdum’s attempts to engage in local traditions. The UFC heavyweight got into a scuffle with Colby Covington, outside a hotel in downtown Sydney. According to Werdum, the argument started when Covington approached him with xenophobic remarks, similar to those Covington made back in October after his win over Demian Maia.
Werdum even alleges that Covington kicked him before things really got crazy.
No matter how the altercation started, however, it ended with Werdum chucking a souvenir boomerang at Covington, striking him in the head with the object. Covington recorded video of the immediate fallout, including his further hurling of xenophobic and homophobic insults at Werdum.
Several outlets reported, in the aftermath, that Covington would be pressing charges against the former UFC heavyweight champion, and it appears those charges have now been filed. MMA Fighting cited a – since deleted – Facebook post from the New South Wales Police force, saying that Werdum had been charged with “common assault.” And Yahoo.au’s 7 News reports that ‘Vai Cavalo’ has been ordered to appear at the Downing Centre Local Court on December 13th for a hearing. That’s a tough break for a man that lives in Los Angeles.
For the UFC’s part, the promotion released a statement to MMAJunkie, noting that they’re looking into the incident as it applies to their Athlete Conduct Policy:
“UFC was made aware of the altercation between Fabricio Werdum and Colby Covington at the organization’s host hotel in Sydney, Australia. The organization will conduct a full investigation to determine if the Athlete Conduct Policy was violated before taking any further action on this matter.”
It seems extremely unlikely that the promotion would pull Werdum from his main event fight on Saturday. And considering the lack of public fallout from a similar incident with Cris Cyborg and Angela Magana back in May, it could be that the UFC will simply leave it to the court to deal with Werdum and move on from there.