UFC heavyweight Fabricio Werdum has been charged by Australian police for allegedly attacking colleague Colby Covington with a boomerang.
The incident was captured by New Zealand UFC lightweight Dan Hooker, who posted a video online in which a man who appears to be Werdum slings a boomerang at Covington, a rising middleweight fighter, from just metres away.
Werdum, a former heavyweight champion, claims Covington had earlier hurled a tirade of abuse at him – disparaging his fellow Brazilians as "filthy animals" and using an anti-gay slur.
The American claims Werdum had punched him.
"F*ck Brazil," Covington responded in a video posted to Instagram, which has since been removed.
"F*ck Fabricio Werdum, little bitch ass. F*ck Brazil. A bunch of filthy animals. And they wonder why they get talked to like that, because they’re a bunch of animals."
Werdum later refuted the punch accusations, saying he was first and foremost the victim of a kick from the 29-year-old Floridian.
"When I walked past him, he looked at me and said 'filthy Brazilians'…I hit his phone and asked ‘what did you say?'" Werdum recounts.
"He kicked my leg, but I managed to defend it, so the guys got in the middle and nothing else happened."
Covington's anti-Brazil rhetoric began prior to his fight with Demian Maia in Sao Paulo last month, when he called the country a "dump" and the crowd a "bunch of filthy animals".
The two are in Australia for the UFC Fight Night card in Sydney on Sunday.
Werdum is the late replacement for New Zealander Mark Hunt, who was pulled from the event following revelations that he'd been suffering from concussion symptoms.
The UFC said in a statement that it was aware of the "altercation" and "will conduct a full investigation to determine if the athlete conduct policy was violated before taking any further action on this matter."
Police confirmed they had charged a 40-year-old man with common assault.
Werdum is expected to appear at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday 13 December 2017.
Newshub.
