Former UFC middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa has been accused of striking a nurse with his elbow Monday evening in Contagem, Brazil after a quarrel over a COVID-19 vaccination card.
Globo's Carolina Caetano reported that both Costa and the 26-year-old nurse were taken to the Contagem Duty Police Station afterward to be questioned about the incident. The nurse additionally told a local radio station Itatiaia that Costa came to the vaccination station and started saying he had already been vaccinated when asked to provide proof of vaccination. As the Brazilian MMA star was leaving the premises, the nurse claims that “he threw an elbow that hit my mouth.”
Costa's side of the story meanwhile goes as follows according to a city Municipal Guard Marco Mota.
"He claimed he took the vaccine, but the nurses wouldn't let him leave with the card," Mota told Globo. "He said it generated stress, he took the card and left. At that moment, a nurse grabbed him by the arm and he disarmed himself. He doesn't talk about elbowing."
The Civil Police of Minas Gerais also provided MMA Fighting with the following statement regarding the incident. Costa was released after being questioned by authorities and is due in court after the alleged victim filed a criminal complaint. He is currently scheduled to fight former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold, at UFC 278 on August 20.
“The suspect, aged 31, and the victim, aged 26, were taken to the Contagem precinct, where they were heard by the police authority, which requested the forensic examination. At the time, the woman expressed interest in pressing criminal charges against the fighter, and the Civil Police wrote a Circumstantiated Term of Occurrence (TCO), in which both sides agreed to appear in a hearing before the Special Criminal Court of the municipality.”
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