Just days after the announcement that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women's bantamweight contender Bethe Correia would be fighting the seemingly indomitable champ Ronda Rousey in the main event of the UFC 190 pay-per-view (PPV) -- expected to go down inside HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 1, 2015 -- the Brazilian bombshell was involved in a street fight in Rio.
Video of the altercation can be seen above, and MMA Fighting has the back story:
Correia was with her boyfriend Edelson Silva, who is also one of Anderson Silva's boxing coaches, and her sister Suzana Correia at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro. They asked for a taxi to go out for dinner, but decided to eat at a restaurant across the street as soon as the taxi arrived.
The taxi driver, Cleonardo de Freitas Alves, wanted to charge them anyway, and that's when everything started.
According to the UFC fighter, Alves threatened to grab a gun at the glove compartment and got into a fight with Edelson Silva. A video footage also shows Alves throwing a trash can at Silva, who tried to punch him several times.
Correia, who likely knew she had the most to lose during the scuffle, opted to stay out of the fracas, noting she "could have used all my martial art knowledge to stop him, but I didn't want to fight. I was calm, but he was threatening us."
"Pitbull" also noted she began receiving death threats following the altercation, but the Brazilian assured her fans that she is 100 percent focused on her title fight against "Rowdy" this August.
UFC officials have yet to comment on the incident, but it seems for now that Correia's title shot is not in jeopardy.
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