It was a pleasant celebratory car ride home for Andre Petroski and his crew as they made their way home from Boston to Philadelphia on Sunday following UFC 292.
However, the sweet taste of victory quickly turned sour, Petroski recalled as he spoke to MMA Junkie on Monday about video that surfaced on social media of he and cornermen Eddy Torres and Billy Janzer confronting an alleged masturbator in the public restroom of a rest stop in Montvale, N.J.
“We walk out and my buddy Billy is like, ‘Yo, did you see that?’” Petroski said. “I was like, ‘Nah.’ He was like, ‘The dude next to me was jerking off in the urinal watching me piss. I just looked over, and he was staring at me.’
“At first, I was like, ‘Are you sure, bro? What are you talking about?’ We go back in and the dude is still there. This time, he runs into the stall, and he’s watching people go to the urinal.”
Petroski said he, Torres, Janzer, and the manager of the rest station waited approximately 20 minutes for the man to come out of the stall – and still he did not resurface. It was time to try another approach.
“We went in and got him, came out, and called the cops,” Petroski said.
Petroski shared an extended cell phone clip of what happened after they forced the man out of the bathroom with MMA Junkie, which can be seen in the video above.
While the man asked the Renzo Gracie Philly squad of MMA fighters to please let him go, Petroski said the requests were denied – right before further revelations.
“My coach Eddy doesn’t play like that,” Petroski said. “He’s like, ‘Where’s your car at? Where’s your car at?’ He’s like, ‘I Ubered here.’ We’re like, ‘Hold up. You Ubered to a rest stop in the middle of the highway? You Ubered? With what intentions?’
“Who Ubers to a rest stop in the middle of Jersey in the middle of the highway? Then he finally admitted, ‘Oh, I have problems, blah, blah, blah.’ He admitted he comes once a week. The managers were able to go back and look at the cameras and see how often he comes.”
Petroski estimated it took police approximately 20 minutes to arrive on scene. Once they did, an arrest was made, New Jersey State Police (NJSP) confirmed to MMA Junkie late Monday.
While the man’s name was not released, an NJSP spokesperson told MMA Junkie they arrested the 33-year-old Hispanic male. After an investigation, the man was charged with lewdness and released from custody pending a court appearance.
As he reflected on the situation, Petroski (10-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) said it was a no-brainer to act the way he and his team did less than one full day removed from his unanimous decision win over Gerald Meerschaert at TD Garden.
“Who knows how many kids go in there? Who knows if he sees some kid by himself one day what he’s going to do to that kid?” Petroski said. “… I mean, I have kids. If my kid was, God forbid, to go into that bathroom and see that, I would murder that dude.”
He continued, “Look, it’s my duty. That’s my duty as a man in this world, as a man that believes in God. I’m here to make this world a better place. You know the phrase, “The best defense against evil men is good men who are skilled at violence.’ … There’s nothing I hate more in this world than pedophiles, sexual predators, you know?”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
