Police arrested Knight on domestic abuse, assault with a deadly weapon and drug charges.

Knight was taken to the Clark County Detention Center, where he was required to remain for at least 12 hours past his 7 a.m. arrest, a requirement in all domestic violence cases.

He posted his $19,000 bond and, according to jail records, was released Wednesday evening. He is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court on Sept. 26.

Knight rejected requests for an interview.

Knight and the woman, who is his girlfriend of three years but wasn't identified by police, were in a Cadillac Escalade returning from the Spearmint Rhino strip club about 6:30 a.m. when they began fighting, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

After the fight became physical inside the car, police said, the woman jerked the steering wheel, causing the champagne-colored sport utility vehicle to hit a curb before stopping on Spring Mountain Road near Interstate 15.

Both got out of the vehicle, and Knight, who is two to three times heavier than the woman, chased and then beat her in the parking lot, police said.

A nearby witness used a cell phone to call police.

Police said Knight had a knife in his hand when they arrived on the scene. He was handcuffed without incident. Police would not reveal details of the alleged beating but said the girlfriend was not stabbed.

"Let there be no mistake, she was brutally assaulted," police Lt. Chris Carroll said. "Had we not got there when we did, this thing could've very easily ended tragically."

Police said they found the drugs Ecstasy and hydrocodone, for which Knight does not have a prescription, on him when they arrested him.

Police said they didn't know whether Knight or his girlfriend were intoxicated. Knight was not given an alcohol breath test.

Knight's girlfriend was taken to Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Knight, who played football at UNLV for two years, has a residence in Las Vegas, but police didn't know how long he has been living in the area.

He was considered an icon of gangster rap during the 1990s when he co-founded Death Row Records with Dr. Dre. He was often seen wearing a red sports coat and smoking a cigar. Early this year, officials in Compton, Calif., asked a judge to ban members of the Mob Piru street gang from being able to congregate in a neighborhood -- and asked that the order include Knight. Knight called it a "publicity stunt."

Dr. Dre and Knight sold tens of millions of records and signed several notable rap superstars, including Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, to the label before it went bankrupt.

Wednesday's arrest was not Knight's first run-in with Las Vegas authorities. In 1996 Knight, who goes by Suge, an offshoot of his childhood nickname Sugar Bear, was in the car when rapper Shakur was shot four times in the chest after attending a Mike Tyson fight on the Strip. Shakur later died.

Knight has served time in prison for a slew of offenses and has faced charges of assault, firearms trafficking and attempted murder.

He was convicted of assault in 1992 and placed on probation, then jailed for five years beginning in 1996 for violating that probation.

He was returned to jail in 2003 for again violating parole for punching a parking attendant at a Hollywood nightclub. He was released the next year.

In August 2005, Knight was wounded during a shooting at a party in a Miami nightclub.

Review-Journal writer Antonio Planas and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.