Prosecutor to re-review alleged assault from Matt Brown

Matt Brown

A city prosecutor will re-review Rodrigo Botti’s case two weeks after police declined to file charges in relation to an alleged assault by UFC welterweight Matt Brown.

Gregory S. Peterson, a prosecutor with the Hilliard (Ohio) mayor’s court, said he met with Botti after the jiu-jitsu coach filed his own complaint with the court seeking another review of his case.

“In misdemeanor offenses like this, the law allows us to prosecute what we refer to as a private filing,” Peterson told MMAjunkie. “A private filing can be filed against any citizen that wants to bring a charge.”

Botti, who alleges Brown assaulted him this past month at the gym of which he co-owns, confirmed a meeting this past week with Peterson. He declined to share details of their conversation, but said the meeting was “good” and that he intended to use the law to its fullest extent to receive justice.

“He was a coward when he attacked me and he is being even more of a coward trying to cover it up,” said Botti.

Earlier this month, Brown told MMAjunkie that Botti “straight up lied” about the incident that led to him punching the jiu-jitsu coach and added he would consult with lawyers to defend against any possible legal issues.

“I don’t want my name out being out there and everybody thinking I’m some violent, crazy, I don’t know, coach beater-upper or whatever,” said Brown (19-12 MMA, 12-7 UFC), who lost a decision to ex-champ Johny Hendricks (16-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) at this past Saturday’s UFC 185. “I’ve got to protect my name; I didn’t do nothing wrong.”

Botti claims Brown punched him multiple times while he was seated at a table and did so knowing he was recovering from an eye surgery. Botti said a witness to the incident, Brown’s muay Thai coach, Dorian Price, lied to police when they were called to the scene.

Peterson said he had concerns about “the state of the evidence” and ability to prove an assault beyond a reasonable doubt, the legal standard necessary to press charges in city court.

But he added that Botti “asked me to revisit the case to revisit some additional information, which I have agreed to do. So I don’t know if it’s re-opened, but I do consider it an active, ongoing investigation situation.”

Botti declined to comment on the additional evidence he plans to bring to the table, but challenged Brown to take a lie detector test to see who was telling the truth when it came to the gym incident.

“My position is wait on the justice, but we all know there is a lot of gaps in the system,” Botti said. “He is trying to find one of them and laugh at the end. For a man with values you wouldn’t be able to put your head on the pillow and sleep, but he is showing who he is.”

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