Controversial manager to the stars Ali Abdelaziz is facing a battery charge in Las Vegas after sucker-punching another high-profile MMA manager Abe Kawa (brother of Malki Kawa) in the face at a PFL event on Friday night.
Abdelaziz, founder of Dominance MMA Management, was witnessed by police officers in the venue at the Mandalay Bay Events Center going into the VIP section and then punching Kawa of First Round Management, “in the face with a closed fist.”
Kawa’s version of events was that Abdelaziz came over to him saying he needed to speak, but then, “struck him in the face with a closed fist on the right side of his face for no reason.”
Anthony Pettis’s fiancee was alongside Kawa at the time and has also confirmed the same version of his events in the police report.
Kawa’s brother Malki, also a well known MMA manager, has also issued an angry statement in which he recalls also being punched in the face by Abdelaziz several years ago, though he never pressed charges.
“One day (really soon) I’ll tell you guys the truth about my ‘altercations’ with that rat,” Kawa wrote. “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. I never said anything because BOTH TIMES he called to apologize. Both time’s (sic). Like a little bitch. But now I see he did that to avoid me pressing charges. Which I was never going to do.
“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.”
As well as his latest battery charge, Abdelaziz, whose clients include current UFC champions Khabib Nurmagomedov, Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman, is also currently facing another one in Las Vegas in relation to a seperate scuffle with Colby Covington at a buffet line at the Palms Casino Resort.
