YouTuber apologizes after MMA fighter knocks out civilian on livestream, says he did not know it was real

Amid controversy over mixed martial arts fighter Kim Jung-woo's assault on a civilian, identified only as A, that left him unconscious, YouTuber B, who organized the livestream during which the assault took place, apologized, saying, "I did not know he had really passed out."

According to Sports Kyunghyang, B said in an interview with Gray News on Tuesday, "A, the person who was assaulted, previously competed in professional kickboxing competitions and was originally a fan of my channel."

He then said of the tension staged between Kim and A, "This had been discussed to some extent before the broadcast began, and we decided to stage the situation somewhat to make the broadcast more entertaining."

B also said, "Kim and A were originally supposed to spar in the ring, and beforehand we staged a situation where they appeared to get into an argument, intending it as a teaser to show viewers that the two would face off later."

B went on to say, "It was never planned to actually knock someone out or hurt them that badly," and said that he and Kim had not agreed beforehand that Kim would injure A to the point of unconsciousness.

Regarding the moment when Kim, laughing and joking with other cast members, told the unconscious A to "sleep for a while," B added, "At the time, I did not realize he had actually passed out — I thought A was pretending to be unconscious to make the scene more dramatic."

B said that once he realized A had actually passed out, he ended the livestream and called emergency services.

However, B admitted that one of the cast members had falsely told the hospital that A "was injured while exercising," explaining that they did so because a case registered as assault or injury might not be covered by private insurance.

B then apologized, saying, "This could look to A's parents and family like an attempt to downplay or cover up the incident." He added, "If police need to investigate, I plan to explain everything I know exactly as it happened."

Meanwhile, police booked Kim on charges of assault causing injury without detention and are investigating the case. They reportedly also plan to examine whether other cast members present at the scene were involved in the assault.

Earlier, Kim appeared on B's livestream on Sunday and assaulted A using techniques including a guillotine choke. Even after A tapped out to signal submission, Kim continued applying the choke until A lost consciousness. As A collapsed, the back of his head struck the ground hard, causing a severe impact.

At the time, Kim and the other cast members left A unattended despite his being unconscious. In particular, Kim was seen on the live broadcast slapping the unconscious A's cheek and laughing while saying, "Let him sleep for a bit."

As the controversy spread, ZFN, the mixed martial arts organization to which Kim belongs, terminated his contract on Monday, saying it determined he had violated the code-of-conduct clause in his player contract.

Kim, a former wrestler, made his professional debut in mixed martial arts last month through ZFN, an organization founded and run by Jung Chan-sung. He reportedly had once been affiliated with a violent organization that was under police surveillance.