Joe Schilling, a former Bellator fighter, is being sued over a bar knockout that went viral.
Back in June, footage was released of Schilling knocking out a bar patron. In the clip, Schilling is seen walking past someone in the bar. Schilling then reacts, allegedly to something that was said to him and he turned around and confronted the man. The man appeared to flex and Schilling proceeded to knock the patron unconscious with punches.
That bar patron was Justin Balboa and he is suing Schilling and Bro Management Las Olas LLC, the company behind B Square Burgers where the incident occurred. Balboa is suing Schilling for battery and Bro Management for negligence.
Balboa’s attorney, Rich Conforti, had the following to say to MMAFighting.com.
“We’ve initiated the lawsuit, the defendants are in the process of being served. We believe Mr. Balboa has considerably high-damages claim for what has happened based on the actions of Mr. Schilling and the negligence of Bro Management.”
Conforti claims the total damages amount to $100,000. Schilling has yet to respond to the lawsuit but he has said that Balboa started things by being racist to the busboy. Schilling also claims Balboa yelled at him before flexing, so he believes the patron instigated the incident.
During a recent interview with Helen Yee, Schilling doubled down on his belief that he did nothing wrong (h/t LowKickMMA).
“I can’t really speak about what happened that night. I think the witness testimonies out there, a lot of people aren’t covering it, the guy’s personal track record and criminal history is out there but nobody seems to be talking about it.
“No charges have been filed whatsoever, and it’s just a lot of media speculation at this point. I did nothing wrong, and I stand by that.”
