Nelson Thomas is singing the praises of a Houston plastic surgeon for fixing his nose after it was badly broken by a man whom Nelson says “sucker punched” him at a Vegas hotel. The Challenge star went into detail (and posted graphic video) of his recent fix-it surgery and, on Wednesday, TMZ posted more details on the nose-breaking incident, which ended with the assailant going to jail.
According to court records obtained by The Ashley, the incident went down on August 29.
According to TMZ, the incident’s police report states that Nelson was hitting on a woman at ARIA. However, it turns out the woman was married and her husband was not happy to see the MTV reality star chatting it up with his wife…so he allegedly punched Nelson in the face, knocking him unconscious and breaking his nose.
In addition, Nelson claimed that the man tried to steal his jewelry– a chain reportedly worth $10k. When posting about the incident on Instagram, though, Nelson conveniently left out the part about the attack being caused by his flirting.
“To make a long story short, I was in Las Vegas and was sucker punched & kicked in the face because the guy was trying steal my jewelry. Yes the police caught him but I was left with a broken nose,” he wrote.
The assailant— Kevin Dixon— admitted to the police that he punched Nelson in a jealous rage. He was arrested for battery and grand larceny.
In a video recently posted to Instagram, Nelson stated that Houston plastic surgeon Dr. Edward Chamata took on his case and fixed his nose, which Nelson claims was “was so swollen that no doctor wanted to see me until the swelling went down.”
“My nose was broken, my heart was even broken,” Nelson explains in the video. “Tears was falling down my eyes, I did not know what I was going to do. I’m in the film industry so [my face] is everything for me. Unfortunately I was in an incident in Las Vegas where I got attacked and punched in the face.”
Nelson added that he was also kicked in the face during the attack. Still, he says, Dr. Chamata was able to restore his nose to its original glory.
“@drchamata saved my ass and I can’t thank him enough,” Nelson wrote.
As for the man who punched Nelson, he has a hearing set for January 18, 2022 in Las Vegas. He faces four felony charges: battery resulting in substantial bodily harm, robbery, grand larceny- value of $5k but less than $25k, and theft- value of $5k but less than $25k.
You can watch video of Nelson’s nose surgery (if you’re into that stuff) by clicking through to the videos on the post below.
View this post on Instagram
UPDATE! After TMZ posted its story on Wednesday, Nelson took to Twitter to state that the site’s description of events were false.
“This is not true. I was hit from behind and robbed. Nobody’s wife was involved. I was attacked by a criminal. Where did you get your information? You should call me if you want the real story.”
@TMZ This is not true. I was hit from behind and robbed. Nobody’s wife was involved. I was attacked by a criminal. Where did you get your information? You should call me if you want the real story. https://t.co/GEzusKW3Rc
— Nelson Thomas (@_nelsonthomas) November 17, 2021
“@TMZ found the most provocative part about the story (his testimony that I was flirting with his wife) and spun it even though it wasn’t true,” he wrote. “I called MTV and they put me in contact with TMZ. They apologetically asked me to tell the true story and do an interview.”
He also scolded the site for making light of the situation in its original story.
“‘Nelson wasn’t up to the challenge…’ ‘Before ko’ Why does @TMZ think this was a game,” Nelson wrote. “This was my life, I could’ve been killed or severely hurt long-term… Let me remind you of the damage TMZ!”
Nelson later gave his side of the story to TMZ, telling the site, “The criminal who attacked me lied to the cops because we tried to find [his wife] for questioning and he never showed up to a court date. The guy is a criminal. He snuck up on me, attacked me, then robbed me.”
Nelson added that he would never flirt with a married woman.
(Photos: MTV; Instagram)
The film industry 😂😂😂 tmz for shoplifting, tmz for broken nose, dr. Phil and the challenge. Film industry 😂😂😂