MMA managers Kawa, Abdelaziz involved in brief physical altercation
Warning: Story contains coarse language
The Professional Fighters League event Friday apparently had an unsanctioned bout outside the cage.
Prominent MMA managers Abe Kawa and Ali Abdelaziz were involved in a "brief physical altercation where a battery was committed," the Las Vegas Metro Police Department told ESPN's Marc Raimondi.
Kawa, vice president of First Round Management, told Raimondi that Abdelaziz, the CEO of Dominance MMA, approached him in the crowd and slapped him on the right side of his face. The two were then quickly separated, according to Raimondi's sources.
Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, who's represented by Kawa, said Abdelaziz slapped his manager "like a b----" and "was gone in 15 seconds."
On Saturday, Kawa expanded on his beef with Abdelaziz on Twitter:
One day (really soon) I’ll tell you guys the truth about my “altercations” with that rat. But so we’re clear, he never ko’d me, never dazed me, never did anything but throw a sucker punch and then I got grabbed
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) October 12, 2019
Second altercation ended up with me soccer kicking him in the head l. he threw a kick I caught, and Forrest came to break it up. He hit the ground, I kicked his head.
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) October 12, 2019
I never said anything because BOTH TIMES he called to apologize. Both time’s. Like a little bitch. But now I see he did that to avoid me pressing charges. Which I was never going to do....
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) October 12, 2019
But like I said, I’ll give all the details later. So we’re clear, any friend of his is an enemy of mine. We can fight all day, but coming at anyone in my family and you cross the line.
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) October 12, 2019
The PFL said it intends to look into the incident.
"LVMPD officers were on scene and temporarily detained one of the subjects during the investigation," a police spokesperson said in a statement. "That subject was cooperative. He was issued a citation and released. No enforcement action was taken regarding the second subject, who was also cooperative. There were no significant injuries."
Abdelaziz's company boasts the likes of current UFC lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov, while Kawa's roster of fighters includes UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.