Jump to
The last time now retired UFC fighter Alessio Di Chirico was in the news it was to announce the end of his professional MMA career. ‘Manzo’ spent six years inside the Octagon, one of the few representatives of Italian MMA to find a longterm home with the UFC. Unfortunately, after some early decent results, the GLORIA Fight Center athlete hit the skids. A three-fight losing streak was broken by a highlight reel head kick knockout of Joaquin Buckley, only to be followed by KO losses to Abdul Razak Alhassan and Roman Kopylov.
If retirement was supposed to offer a reprieve from fighting, though, it doesn’t seem to have quite done the trick. Italian news site Diario de Ibiza reports that the 33-year-old former fighter was recently arrested after an incident with a cab driver on Monday, May 23rd, outside a hotel in the town of Es Pujols.
Dispute with UFC fighter over seating in the cab
According to reports, Di Chirico was vacationing on the island with his wife and two children, when the caught a cab back to their hotel from a restaurant. The family asked if they could all sit together in the back of the cab, but were told that one of them had to ride up front, due to safety regulations.
Apparently, after being denied a seat in the back of the cab, Di Chirico is said to have spent the trip to the hotel haranguing the driver. After arriving at their destination he reportedly paid the cab fee and then, without provocation, punched the driver in the face, fracturing the man’s cheekbone, and damaging his right eye. The driver was medevaced to a nearby hospital and is expected to undergo surgery.
Video captured of the assault
Although not released to the public, Diario de Ibiza’s report notes that the assault was apparently captured on the hotel’s CCTV system, leading to Alessio Di Chirico’s immediate arrest by authorities. The fighter is said to have been unresistant when approached by officers, and has reportedly already been released from jail.
The local Formentera Taxi Drivers Association released a statement to the media on the alleged assault, noting that “the taxi is a public transport service in which situations of disagreement can sometimes arise due to ignorance of the regulations on the part of some passengers, but it should never be forgotten that at the wheel of each taxi there is a human being with family and that verbal violence or aggression will never be a good way to resolve conflicts.”
About the author
