Jake Shields, a teammate of Nate Diaz, believes the Stockton native didn’t start the fight on Friday night.
Diaz was attending a Misfits boxing event to support his teammate Chris Avila in which he threw a water bottle at someone during the event. Then, after the event in the streets, a fight happened between Diaz and Rodney Peterson. During the fight, Diaz choked Peterson unconscious and after the video surfaced, the New Orleans Police Department charged the former UFC fighter on a charge of second-degree battery.
However, after the news of the charge came out, Shields took to Twitter to detail the altercation and alleges that Peterson was the one who started the fight against Diaz.
Shields breaks down Diaz incident
In Jake Shields’ tweets, he points to the fact that Diaz is in a defensive posture and the fact that Peterson is the one who stepped forward first. Then, as the two are hand-fighting, Shields claims that Peterson is the one who brings his hands closer to Diaz’s face. Then, as someone steps in front of the camera, Shields says one of Peterson’s teammates came at Diaz making it a two-on-one which forced Diaz to grab Peterson’s neck and sink in the choke.
While Nate Diaz has the choke in, Jake Shields claims that Rodney Peterson surges forward which makes Diaz throw a knee to the body to protect himself. Then, after a bit of time, Diaz choked Peterson out cold and sent him down to the street unconscious where he hit his head.
After the incident, Rodney Peterson posted a video showing his head bleeding and vowed to KO Nate Diaz if he saw him again. But, with the NOPD having an arrest warrant, it’s likely the two will not come face-to-face anytime soon, but Shields doesn’t think Diaz should be charged with anything as he alleges Peterson is the one who started it.
As for his fighting career, Nate Diaz is set to make his boxing debut on August 5 against Jake Paul. It’s his first fight since his UFC exit as he fought out his deal after submitting Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 279.