The featherweight division fighter for the UFC, Brian Ortega, officially apologized to K-pop star Jay Park after the former slapped the latter. In a short 11 March tweet, Ortega officially apologized to the Korean-American rapper.
It was the second time the fighter offered his apologies. Previously, Ortega wrote in a now-deleted tweet: "I apologize for hitting the interpreter and the K-pop star, but I won't apologize for hitting the instigator."
The incident occurred at the UFC 248 on the 8 March in Las Vegas, Nevada. Park was there as a translator for Korean fighter Jung Chan-sung (also known as the Korean Zombie). While Jung used the restroom, Ortega approached Park and slapped him.
Shortly after the incident, Ortega explained in the now-deleted Tweet why he slapped the K-Pop star. "On May 9, 2018, Jay Park signed Korean Zombie to a management contract under AOMG Entertainment, of which Park is the CEO, and soon after the trash talking began," he wrote, cited by Heavy.com.
"When I finally made it to Korea for the press conference, KZ approached me with his translator (a real one, not Jay Park) and said, ‘I want to apologize for the trash talking, it was my management that wants to do it to promote the fight.’ I accepted his apology, shook his hand and we had a great press conference. Soon after I tore my knee, and the fight was cancelled."
Last month, on “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show,” Park interpreted for Jung saying: “So he said, it doesn’t matter, [Max] Holloway, [Alex] Volkanovski, or [Brian] Ortega, but Ortega already ducked him one time. So he doesn’t need to fight a fighter that’s ducking him already”.
In a now deleted Instagram post, Ortega said that it was all made up to promote the fight, and claimed that the script was written by Park as CEO of AOMG.
Park responded to the accusations by claiming he had no time for the kerfuffle, and when asked if he would sue Ortega for assault, said he would not file charges, but has a year to make a final decision. Park's label, AOMG, confirmed in a statement that the CEO has no issues with his health.
Jung condemned Ortega's behaviour: "I’m positive Jay Park could have defended himself and fought back, but Ortega is a professional UFC fighter who’s ranked at second place world wide."
Fans of Park are furious that a fighter slapped a civilian
Park's AOMG company issued a statement on the incident: "We know fans are worried, but he is not injured at all. He has no issues to his health right now."