The fitness influencer faces a proposed prison term, probation and mental health treatment after a December confrontation at Elevation Fitness.
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FL — Fitness influencer Wes Watson pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated battery in a Miami-Dade County gym beating that prosecutors said left another man with a fractured face, a concussion and two black eyes.
Watson, 42, entered the plea as part of an agreement in a case tied to a Dec. 29, 2024, fight at Elevation Fitness on North Miami Avenue. The plea moved the case from a disputed courtroom fight over evidence and defenses toward sentencing, now set for July 27.
Prosecutors offered Watson a sentence of 21 months in prison, with credit for time already served, followed by seven years of probation and mental health treatment. Sentencing was not completed Thursday because Watson’s defense team plans to meet again with state attorneys and seek a shorter prison term. Defense attorney Eric Clemmon said in court that the facts leading to the fight were unusual. “There’s been a lot that’s been argued in this case about stand your ground,” Clemmon said. He said the man who was beaten had traveled to the gym because of Watson’s online presence and went there to confront him.
According to arrest documents, Watson told responding officers he was working out when the other man approached and said he wanted to fight. Investigators said surveillance video showed the man set up his phone to record the encounter before he pushed Watson. The report said Watson then removed a weightlifting belt and struck the man with it several times. Police said Watson and other men hit and kicked the man while he was on the ground, and Watson kept punching and kicking him until a gym employee stepped in. The victim suffered a face fracture, a concussion and two black eyes, authorities said.
The victim’s lawyers, Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan and attorney Todd McPharlin, said Thursday that the guilty plea marked a step toward accountability. Their statement said the man suffered facial fractures, injuries to his teeth and jaw, and a concussion. The lawyers said they plan to keep pursuing a civil case tied to the beating. The full value of any civil claim, the status of the other men seen in the video and whether more charges could follow in the Miami-Dade case were not clear Thursday.
Watson, whose full name is Westley Watson, built a large online following through fitness coaching, motivational videos and a self-help brand after serving time in California. Records cited in earlier court coverage show a San Diego County jury convicted him in 2010 of robbery, burglary, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury. That case stemmed from a 2009 conflict in Carlsbad, California, over marijuana. Watson later said he left prison sober in 2018 and started a fitness business while on parole.
The Miami-Dade plea comes while Watson also faces unrelated criminal charges in Broward County. In March, Hallandale Beach police accused him of attacking his girlfriend, restraining her and threatening her after she went to a Miami Heat game without him. A police spokeswoman said at the time that Watson was accused of shaking the woman, applying pressure to her neck, throwing her to the ground, dragging her by her hair and striking her. A Broward judge ordered him to stay away from the woman, avoid drugs and alcohol, and stay away from weapons or ammunition. Those allegations remain separate from the Miami-Dade gym case.
In the gym case, Miami-Dade prosecutors filed charges after Watson was arrested Feb. 6, about two months after the fight. A judge set bond and ordered Watson to stay away from the injured man. Thursday’s guilty plea resolved the aggravated battery charge for purposes of trial, but the final punishment remains open until the sentencing hearing. The proposed deal includes prison, probation and mental health treatment, but the defense is expected to ask prosecutors for less time behind bars before the judge imposes the sentence.
The case drew attention because the fight took place inside a public gym and involved a defendant known for posting about discipline, strength and personal control. Court records and police reports placed the confrontation in a workout space where phones, surveillance cameras and witnesses captured key parts of the encounter. Clemmon said the alleged victim had gone to the gym for the sole purpose of confronting Watson. Victim attorneys said the man was grateful Watson had been held criminally responsible. Both accounts now sit before the court as the case moves to sentencing.
Watson is scheduled to return to Miami-Dade court on July 27 for sentencing. Until then, the agreed prison term, any possible change to that term and the next steps in the related civil case remain pending.
Author note: Last updated July 2, 2026.