A college football star is reportedly recovering after nearly losing his eye in a fight with an MMA-trained man earlier this month in Norman, Okla.
Police are investigating after Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Spencer Jones was viciously beaten in a video that quickly went viral after it was posted this past Friday.
Jones and another man appear to instigate the fight, cursing and shoving another two men. After the other man shoves one of the two men, Jones is quickly punched and taken to the ground. The man who punched Jones takes him down and sets up for a rear-naked choke. The man who shoved him gets throttled the other man, who’s wearing a beanie.
Per OUDaily, Jones’ attorney said Jones had to have his left orbital bone reconstructed in a four-hour surgery after taking several punches to the face during the altercation, which was reported to police this past Tuesday, Feb. 16. Jones’ attorney, Woodrow “Woody” Glass, said the football player was trying to be a “peacekeeper” when the fight occurred.
“He was trying to de-escalate that situation,” Glass said. “But unfortunately, it wasn’t de-escalated despite his best efforts, and he became the victim of this vicious assault you’ve seen.”
After the video was posted, a man identified on Twitter as Braden Brown responded, writing that he and his brother were involved in the fight and defended their actions.
Just to get rid of the misconceptions, I’m the fellow in the beanie and that is my brother. We ARE NOT wrestlers at any university, we have been wrestling since we were in diapers and MMA/Cage Fighting since we were 12. They gave us no options unfortunately. We showed restraint.
— Braden Brown (@bbrownfr) February 20, 2021
“We ARE NOT wrestlers at any university, we have been wrestling since we were in diapers and MMA/Cage Fighting since we were 12,” Brown wrote. “They gave us no options unfortunately. We showed restraint.”
Brown declined to comment when reached by MMA Fighting.
Per a police report obtained by MMA Fighting, two counts of assault and battery are being investigated, and all parties in the alleged incident have been identified. The officer assigned to the case made contact with Jones. No arrests have been made in the case, per TMZ.
Several MMA fighters weighed in on the video, including Ben Askren, who said he was overwhelmed with messages. Askren is preparing for a boxing match with YouTube star Jake Paul.
Jones, a redshirt senior, was an academic All-Big 12 first team honoree and appeared in all 11 OU games in 2020.
