UFC welterweight Anthony Johnson arrested for domestic violence on June 27 (Updated)

MMAmania.com has been able to confirm with the Hayward Police Department that UFC welterweight fighter Anthony Johnson was arrested on June 27 in Hayward, California on misdemeanor charges including domestic battery involving his ex-girlfriend.

"Rumble" was also charged with criminal threats and the destruction of a cell phone to prevent the reporting of a crime. He was arrested shortly after contacting police about the incident.

Johnson posted bail and was released later that day. He is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on July 17. The Johnson camp was not available for comment but is expected to issue a statement shortly.

***UPDATE: The Johnson camp has issued the following statement via MMAFrenzy:

"On June 27th Mr. Johnson was arrested in Hayward California and was charged with misdemeanors stemming from an alleged altercation with an ex-girlfriend. Mr. Johnson is completely and unequivocally innocent of all charges. These charges are completely outside the realm of Mr. Johnson’s character; he has no prior criminal record and has never been in trouble with the law. Furthermore, any assertion that the UFC played a part in posting his bail or in covering up the incident is completely untrue. Unfortunately, professional athletes are frequently made the victim of such false accusation. We ask that judgment is withheld until all relevant facts are known."

The surging UFC welterweight is currently on the sidelines nursing a knee injury that forced him to withdraw from his 170-pound showdown against Matt Brown at the June 20 Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 9 Finale.

Johnson most recently avenged his controversial loss to Kevin Burns at UFC Fight Night 14 last December, knocking the Iowan senseless with a brutal head kick in the opening seconds of round three. He followed that up with a first round destruction of Luigi Fioravanti at UFC Fight Night 17 back in February.

The 24-year-old Atlanta, Ga., native has a ton of buzz because of his size, power and fight-finishing ability. He appears to get better each time out, training with Strikeforce champions Cung Le and Josh Thomson.

His road to the upper echelon of 170-pound fighters, however, will now be put on indefinite pause until he can resolve this latest setback.

(Thanks to "MMA Newshound" for the tip)