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Bucs' Mike Evans involved in brawl outside Miami club in March (with video)

 
Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans, in blue shirt at right, points at bouncers after he was denied entrance into a Miami club in March. [TMZ]
Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans, in blue shirt at right, points at bouncers after he was denied entrance into a Miami club in March. [TMZ]
Published Aug. 23, 2014

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Bucs rookie receiver Mike Evans said Friday that he regrets that a spring break fight at a Miami nightclub in which he was involved and was captured on video has become a distraction to the team.

The video was posted on celebrity news website TMZ on Friday. There is no record of any arrests in the fight. No one was hurt, Evans said.

Coach Lovie Smith said that after talking to Evans, the team considers the matter "closed."

The fight happened during a trip in March, Evans, the Bucs' first-round draft pick from Texas A&M, said in a statement released by the team.

"(It) occurred at the end of the night when someone in my party was approached by a member of the security staff," he said. "The situation escalated very quickly from there. … I regret that this incident that happened nearly six months ago has become a distraction to my team."

Smith said in a statement that Evans has met the team's expectations on and off the field, and that after speaking with him, "our feelings about him remain unchanged."

The video shows Evans, wearing a light blue short-sleeved shirt, arguing with security personnel outside Dream Nightclub in South Beach. Club general manager James Andrews confirmed the personnel are his employees.

Evans is restrained by others, and as the fight escalates between other parties, he gets involved, at one point throwing a punch, then running away and even jumping over a parked car.

Evans, who turned 21 Thursday, was not drinking at the club, said his agent, Deryk Gilmore. Because of that, he did not have a VIP wristband needed for admittance to parts of the club. He had been allowed in as a guest but was stopped after going to the bathroom because he didn't have the wristband, Gilmore said. He was asked to leave and had wanted to go back into the club to get his girlfriend, who had remained inside, Gilmore said.

TMZ initially reported that the brawl took place Saturday night, which would have been just hours after the Bucs' preseason game in Tampa against the Dolphins.