UFC bantamweight title challenger Bethe Correia has found herself in the middle of controversy following an apparent street fight between her boyfriend and a cab driver.
Trouble just seems to find some people, and right now it's all over Bethe Correia. The woman bantamweight contender is set to take on champion Ronda Rousey for a shot at the belt late this summer, but right now she's more worried about threats on her life stemming from a reported recent altercation with a taxi cab driver.
Apparently, Correia and her boyfriend, Edelson Silva (a boxing coach for Anderson Silva) called a taxi to be picked up from their hotel in Rio de Janeiro. While waiting for the cab, it seems, they changed plans and decided to walk to a nearby restaurant. When they cab arrived and they informed the driver (reportedly named Cleonardo de Freitas Alves) of their change in plans, supposedly, he demanded that they pay him for his time lost. By Correia's account, unhappy with the amount of money they offered him, the cab driver threatened that he would get his gun if they didn't pay him more. And that's when the fight started.
MMAFighting spoke to Correia about the incident and the fallout from it:
"He wanted us to pay him five reais (approximately two dollars), and I gave him seven. But he kept asking Edelson for more money, saying we wasted his time," Correia told MMAFighting.com. "They started to argue and Edelson told him to f--k off, and that's when the taxi driver left the car and started the fight with Edelson. They started to fight, to punch each other. My sister and I didn't do anything.
"(Alves) said he would grab a gun at the glove compartment. When he said that, my sister went after him, but I pulled her away. I 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.
"The taxi driver didn't even recognize me. When the police showed up, they wanted to take Edelson with him, but the hotel's receptionist said ‘ah, that fighter over was also involved', so they called my room and asked for me to go with them. The taxi driver didn't recognize me, but now he wants to use this to become famous. Edelson was just protecting us. This is bulls--t. What would you do if a man says he's grabbing a gun to threaten your family? Edelson was protecting us."
Now, Correia says she's been receiving threats over social media. She says she's deleted most of them, but she's saved a least one, since the man making it brandished a gun and called her a "Coward son of a bitch.... shitty monkey." And has apparently made threats on her life as well as her boyfriend's. You can see the messages below:
No information yet as to whether this will affect her ability to compete at UFC 190. Most likely it will not, but we'll be sure to keep you updated with more information as it becomes available.
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