Former Ultimate Fighter bad-boy Junie Browning has always appeared to have somewhat of a death wish, and last week in Thailand he came perilously close to losing his life when an argument in Thailand quickly spiralled out of control.
Browning wrote to The Phucket Gazette to explain what happened. He describes being confronted by a man named Simon as he headed home from a night out in Karon with his girlfriend. Here’s his detailed description of what took place.
“I could tell from the moment he stepped in front of me, he was looking for a fight. At this point, it just involved me and Simon, my girlfriend was standing next to us. In only a few seconds, my girlfriend was thrown across the street and I had been hit from behind in the back of the head by a glass beer bottle.
I stood up looking for my attacker and found myself surrounded by a mob of people. It was no longer a man on man “bar brawl” but a fight for my survival. I was trying to defend myself in the street when at some point I fell back to the ground.
They [dragged] me back into the bar where they pummeled me with punches and kicks. It was me against everyone. For a second time I received a massive blow over the head with a thick glass mug that split my head open and made me fall to the floor.
I curled up in the fetal position, submissive, and I continued to be kicked and hit. My arms up covering my face I felt a slice to my forearm and another stab to my neck.
A Thai girl had a knife and was attacking my head with it. I must have lost consciousness from blood loss because the next thing I knew, my girlfriend had sprawled her body on top of mine to protect me from any more blows. She was screaming that it was “enough” and that the fight was over.
She was taking kicks in my place until a bystander grabbed me by the shoulders and [dragged] my body down the steps into the street.
All of my attackers remained standing in the bar unharmed. I was going in and out of consciousness, which I am assuming was from my head trauma, while the ambulance arrived and I was transported to the hospital. My girlfriend accompanied me in the emergency vehicle drenched in by blood and witnessed the paramedics revive me by CPR twice.”
Pictures of Browning’s wounds show that he’s certainly not exaggerating about the damage he sustained.
That was far from the end of the matter though, as believe it or not Browning was then involved in another brawl at the hospital he was treated at.
“They began to assess my wounds and stitch up the three large gashes on my head. Without any consideration to my safety or the events that had just occurred, they placed both Menzies accompanied by MJ Castro, and the man who had attacked me with a mug, in the beds right beside me.
Needless to say, I became furious and again words were exchanged. As it escalated a second time into a physical fight, MJ attempted to intervene and was struck in the rumble. Security and Patong Police arrived and restrained all parties. I was taken into the waiting lobby on a stretcher in handcuffs in front of numerous people to finish giving me medical attention.”
Believe it or not there’s more to the story as Browning and his girlfriend were then forced to flee from the hospital after being warned that the Thai mafia were after them. To make matters worse the Thai police also have a warrant out for his arrest.
They’ve been on the run ever since and Browning is currently trying to seek help from the American Embassy while continuing to deal with the aftermath of the assault.
“To this point I have been unable to seek the medical attention that I desperately need. My vision in my right eye is impaired, I am in severe pain, I am going through fainting and dizzy spells, and have severe head trauma. We had to use the internet to try to figure out how to deal with it on our own.”
There’s far more detail in Browning’s full story so be sure to check it out from the original source.
It’s a shocking tale, but of course the big problem here is that we all know that Browning is no angel. He was one of the most notorious contestants ever on TUF for his bad behaviour which included regularly getting drunk, starting arguments and getting into fights.
Furthermore, in 2009 Browning was involved in another brawl at a hospital in Las Vegas after taking an overdose of painkillers, resulting in him being accused of assaulting three nursing staff. That incident lead to him being fired from the UFC.
So while Browning’s current predicament does indeed sound grim, in many ways this has been an accident waiting to happen for years.
Incidentally, Browning is not the only fighter to have found himself in the middle of a brawl in that part of the world. Urijah Faber, who’s perhaps the exact opposite of Browning given that he’s considered one of the sports ‘good guys’ also found himself in a similar situation in Bali which he talked about in detail during a video interview a few years ago.
Listen to Faber’s story below.
Upon hearing of Browning’s story Faber said, “damn! That sounds scary. Hope the Embassy can help out & his head trauma isn’t too bad. Rules don’t apply over there. Nuts.”
