Lee Dyer, one of six men caught on tape in a violent altercation at the Top Gear festival this last weekend, has approached 2oceansvibe with his version of how events unfolded. Dyer insists that he and a friend, Trevor, the two tattooed men standing in the clearing visible in the video, defended themselves against three drunk men who initiated a fight, which was not caught on tape.

Dyer, a professional South African boxer and partner in Domination Fighting MMA and Functional Fitness Gym in Durban, insists that he has no need to fight anyone, and that the short clip of the video provides very little opportunity to understand the whole truth of the incident.

CLICK THROUGH for Lee Dyer’s full account of events as they unfolded, and a photograph of an injury he sustained to the head from a metal bar stool.

There have been a lot stupid comments. And what gets me is that 90% of people commenting weren’t even there.

I’m a family man. I have a wife and two beautiful daughters. I’m a pro boxer, I don’t need to fight people.

Dyer poses prior to a successful fight

Yes, I’ve been in trouble before, but a simple reading of news reports shows that I was found not guilty [on the 2009 charges of assault]. I was targeted because I’m a professional fighter, and CCTV footage showed that steel chairs were actually thrown at us in that incident, not the other way around.

Trouble always seems to find me, but I never go out anywhere to fight.

At the Top Gear Festival I was walking with my wife, and Trevor [white vest, black cap] and his wife. The three gents you see lying on the floor in the video were walking towards us, and they were clearly drunk, I walked around them on the left, and my wife went to my right.

As we passed them, they turned and said, ‘I’d love to grab a piece of this arse!’, and they grabbed my wife’s buttocks. So I tried to throw my beer on one of them, but I was carrying a can so very little came out.

At that point one of the three guys squared up at me and threw a punch. I ducked his punch and turned, and as I turned someone else started hitting the guy. I did retaliate, to defend myself after that man took a swing at me. Then the whole scurry broke out, and my back was turned to the tent. There was such a scene I honestly don’t know who else got involved besides those three guys and myself.

I tried to pick a guy up, because he was lying in a foetal position. As I tried to pick him up, I ripped his shirt a bit. Then a man hit me on the head with a steel chair.

I turned around and he was just saying, ‘Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!’

If you watch that video again, you’ll see when I turn my face, the left side of face is covered in blood.

Injuries sustained by Dyer just prior to the filming of the video

That man [in the blue shirt, to the right of the frame] hit me over the head with a chair after the fracas had ended.

That’s when I lost it, which is what you see on the video. Unfortunately that woman was standing there.

I did go off my head, and I did throw the chair. That man cracked me a solid shot over the head with that chair. But no one sees that on the video. What you see on the video is such a totally narrow view. You don’t see the drunk guys start it, you don’t see any of the actual fight, and you don’t see that guy, who wasn’t involved in the original fight as far as I can see, smack me with a bar stool once the fight was over while my back was turned.

I’m not the animal that people are saying I am.

I’ve got the cut on my head. I needed stitches in my head, but didn’t get any because I was locked up. I got arrested at the stadium right then and there.

I’ve laid a charge against him, but I don’t know who he is. If I find out who is, he’ll be charged with gross bodily harm.

Something a lot of people have said is that they hope those three guys who were lying on the floor are okay, and so on. They’re perfectly fine. When I was in the cell and the police were taking statements, a police officer informed me that the three guys were perfectly fine. They only have soft tissue injuries, and nothing else. I suffer worse injuries every day in sparring. And in fact, out of everyone I have the worst injuries. My head is badly cut, and my back is killing me.

They reason they look like that in the video is because of how drunk they were! If you’re that drunk, and you get in a fight, you’ll probably pass out.

I understand that people probably think Trevor looks terrifying because he has tattoos and weighs 118 kilograms, but he’s a lovely man. But is that your only reason for judging someone? I mean, how narrow minded are people?

Out I’m sorry about everything and happened, this is not what I go out and do.

Dyer clarified that he is the subject of criminal charges related to the matter, but is not at liberty to divulge what those charges are, given that a criminal investigation is underway.

Were you there? Tell us your eye witness account in the comments section below, or send any new information to editor@2oceansvibe.com.