A celebrity club doorman allegedly beaten by two top mixed martial arts fighters said the scene was like something out of the Bruce Lee film “Enter the Dragon.”
Renzo Gracie and his cousin Igor — part of the famed Gracie clan — were busted by cops with five other men for attacking the doorman outside 1Oak early Monday.
Doorman and host Craig Molesphini claims the Gracies and five other men launched a “premeditated attack” after he turned two of their clan away.
Molesphini, 35, who suffered a suspected fractured elbow and shoulder, told us, “In my entire 14-year career, I have never seen anything like this. At 1:30 a.m. a gray van pulled up, parked in the middle of the street, seven men exited the vehicle and started creating mayhem, screaming, pointing, starting to pick fights with the security guards. One man, [who] I later learned was Renzo, came in my direction, threw the velvet rope on the floor, ran straight into my chest and knocked me back onto the concrete floor onto my elbow. He was on top of me for 20 seconds, trying to punch me, but I wrapped both my arms around his neck so he couldn’t hit me, before somebody pulled him off.”
He added of the brawl, “All of the seven men were fighting, doing MMA moves on the guards, some of whom were injured. When the police arrived, they tried to get away, but the cops parked in front of their van, which was waiting with a driver.”
He said the attack was “retribution for me not allowing two of their masters into the venue last week. This was a carefully planned and coordinated attack. The police arrested all seven of them.”
The Gracie cousins — whose Brazilian family started the sports-promoting business Ultimate Fighting Championship — were charged with gang assault, as were the other suspects.
The pair were released on $10,000 bail. Molesphini’s lawyer Salvatore Strazzullo said they were cooperating with the district attorney and could also file a civil assault claim.
He said, “This is a total premeditated gang assault and the individuals who conspired to do this are going to be brought to justice.”
A spokesman at the Renzo Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy declined to comment.