The Civil Guards in Formentera arrested former UFC fighter, Alessio Di Chirico on Monday. The 33-year-old former middleweight hails out of Rome, Italy. However, as per reports, he was allegedly spending time in Formentera, an island in Spain, along with his wife and two kids.
As per Diario di Ibiza, ‘Manzo‘ called a cab from a restaurant where he had dinner with his family. Alessio planned to go back to the hotel on Es Pujols beach where they were staying. At the beginning of the ride, Alessio insisted on sitting in the backseat of the car with his wife and kids. However, reports say that the cab driver refused because Formentera traffic regulations disallow 4 passengers at the back.
Thus, the former Italian fighter ended up sitting next to the driver. The driver, later identified as Omar Bouhia, alleged that Alessio kept criticizing him during the entire journey for his refusal to allow 4 of them to sit together. As soon as they reached the destination, Di Chirico paid the fee and without saying a word, allegedly punched Omar. This has now led to serious injuries to the right side of Bouhia’s face.
According to multiple sources, former UFC middleweight Alessio Di Chirico has been arrested yesterday in Formentera, Spain, after he assaulted a taxi driver who drove him and his family from the restaurant to the hotel. pic.twitter.com/3UR8onTARC
— Al Zullino (@phre) May 23, 2023
The Ib-Salut reported that Omar had to be transferred from Formentera to Eivissa Hospital, Can Misses by helicopter. The 32-year-old has suffered a fractured cheekbone and injuries to his right eyeball. Alessio broke Omar’s glasses during the process of allegedly punching him. The cab driver was scheduled for surgery later for his injuries.
Another report suggests that the woman in the back, alleged to be Alessio’s wife, tried to stop Di Chirico from hitting the driver. The owner of the taxi license and the driver have both filed a complaint with the Civil Guard. Moreover, surveillance cameras outside the hotel, where the events occurred, verified that the woman indeed tried stopping Alessio from inflicting damage on the driver.
The detainee spent the night in the Civil Guard barracks and has a court date set for him. As per Civil Guard sources, Di Chirico put up zero resistance as the officials arrested him.
The UFC career and achievements of Alessio Di Chirico
Regarding his UFC career, the 33-year-old Italian didn’t seem to have much success under the promotion. Alessio Di Chirico (13-7 MMA, 4-7 UFC) started his pro career 9-0 and made his promotional debut in April 2016 against Bojan Velickovic. He lost the bout via unanimous decision. ‘Manzo‘ secured his first UFC victory against Garreth McLellan via split decision in August of the same year.
However, his very next bout resulted in a loss against Eric Spicely via triangle choke submission. Followed by a layoff of nearly a year, Alessio KO’ed Oluwale Bamgbose and bagged his first post-fight bonus check. He followed that victory up with a split-decision win over Julian Marquez in 2018.
After another yearly layoff, Alessio’s struggles began. Di Chirico lost three straight fights via decisions to Kevin Holland, Makhmud Muradov, and Zak Cummings. With his UFC career in jeopardy, Di Chirico pulled off a stunner after KO’ing Joaquin Buckley in January 2021. This came into existence a few months after Buckley’s viral spinning back kick.
The win over Joaquin stands as Alessio’s final win for now. In August 2021, Abdul Razak Alhassan KO’ed him in 17 seconds. And after a year-long layoff, the Italian suffered another knockout loss to Roman Kopylov. After his stoppage loss at UFC Paris, Alessio took to social media to announce his official retirement from the sport.