MOSCOW, April 27, Andrey Vasilchin. Last weekend, American MMA fighter Nate Diaz (21-13) broke into the agenda of foreign media from his feet. After escaping from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for big money and the announcement of a boxing match against blogger Jake Paul, the Stockton guy disappeared for a while. .com/video_ext.php?oid=-147530452&id=456241044&hash=ba18478dae0d51ce&hd=2″ width=»100%» height=»100%» allow=»autoplay; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in -picture;» frameborder=»0″ allowfullscreen=»»>
Last week, Diaz Jr. came to New Orlen to cheer for his friend. Right during the tournament, Nate had a snack with the reality show star Chase Demure, and after the show he was in the center of a street brawl. In a video that quickly went viral on the Web, an American attacks a guy who bears a striking resemblance to the brother of future MMA fighter opponent Logan Paul. A professional athlete caught a stranger in a choke hold, after which he threw off the «victim» who passed out. An important point: the victim (it turned out to be tiktoker Rodney Petersen) raised his hands and did not ask for a fight at all.
Now the blogger is doing well. Pietersen, whom Diaz confused with Paul Sr., quickly recovered and even promised to «knock out» the UFC star at the next meeting.
But this was only the beginning of the scandal. Yesterday, New Orleans police issued an arrest warrant for a 38-year-old American accused of second-degree battery. This crime in Louisiana is a criminal offense and entails:
- imprisonment for up to eight years;
- two thousand dollars fine;
- both of the above.
Representing the interests of the athlete Zack Rosenfield has already assessed the incident in the capital of jazz. Speaking to MMA Junkie, he said that Nate's lawyer intends to provide the district attorney with all the facts about what happened, which will prove that Peterson (boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu — ed.) «aggressively pursued» Nate with the intent to fight. According to Rosenfield, his client «sedated» the victim in self-defense.
Let's just say it's a tough time for the MMA fan favorite. After all, with what was on the video, pushing the self-defense version would be something of a kind of magic to protect Diaz.
UPD: Diaz surrendered voluntarily On Thursday, journalist Nolan King reported on his Twitter account with reference to Rosenfield that in the morning Diaz voluntarily appeared at the New Orleans Police Department. The athlete's side is «looking forward» to presenting all the evidence and videos that prove Nate was not attacking, only defending himself.
Reaction to scandal
- Conor McGregor, global MMA star:
«»Nate is furious today! Go Nate! Haha. Now I'm going to smash Diaz to dust in the clinch. In fact, now in the clinch I'll kill anyone, just spray them into atoms. Come on, come to me in the clinch!»< br>
- Dana White, UFC President:
«
» This guy's head bounced off the pavement like a basketball. Most likely, he will sue Diaz like the last asshole.
- Daniel Cormier, UFC Hall of Famer:
«
"A little annoyed by this situation. A warrant has been issued for Nate's arrest, and they are trying to sue him. How the hell could you start a fight with Diaz? This guy is dangerous. He knows what self defense is. If you decide to provoke him into a fight, then be prepared for the fact that you will be beaten. You get what you deserve.
- Michael Bisping, UFC Hall of Famer :
«
“As someone trying to live a normal life, you want to deal with the least amount of drama… Nate is almost 40. You have to be careful, because one day problems will overtake you. Remember that many people have guns these days. Nate could have been stabbed. Falling, that guy could have smashed his head in. Luckily, none of that happened.»
- Anthony Smith, top UFC fighter :
«
«I would be happy if there was no video of a UFC fighter beating someone on Bourbon Street. This is bad for our sport, but what can we do? I don’t know why the fight started, but if someone jumped on me, I probably would have strangled him too. That's why I try not to go to bars and clubs, because if someone starts to «throttle» me, I will not leave it like that. No matter how successful I am, where I work, how many broadcasts I have, if someone attacks me, I will fight … I won’t think: “What will it look like when social networks write about it?” I'll just start beating.»