Former UFC fighter Nate Diaz tested out the theory that “all publicity is good publicity” when he got into a scrap with and ultimately choked out someone in New Orleans on Friday night. He was apparently in town to watch a boxing event.
In a twist of irony, the person Diaz ended up mostly fighting was Rodney Peterson, a TikToker and Logan Paul lookalike. Diaz is slated to box Paul’s brother, Jake, in August in Dallas.
Peterson showed the extent of the injuries in a brief video.
Peterson appears to not be too much worse for the wear, despite the knot of bloody hair on the back of his head.
Diaz, however, has claimed self-defense was his reason for brawling with Peterson and others.
Zach Rosenfield, his representative, released a statement to TMZ Sports regarding the situation.
“Nate’s attorney looks forward to presenting all of the facts about this incident to the District Attorney which clearly demonstrates that a trained fighter named Rodney Petersen aggressively pursued Nate with the intention of engaging him and once doing so, Nate acted entirely in self-defense. No further comment will be made at this time.”
The statement from Diaz’s attorney came shortly after the New Orleans police department issued a warrant for his arrest. He was charged with second-degree battery, according to Steven Marrocco of MMAFighting.com.
The warrant stems from a street fight on Bourbon Street over the weekend. Diaz quickly used his experience as a 3rd-degree black belt in Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu to choke the man out and put him to sleep. The video shows Diaz leaving the scene after the man falls to the ground.
The situation began as Diaz took in a fight in New Orleans
Earlier in the evening, Diaz was sitting ringside at a Misfits boxing event at XULA Convocation Center in New Orleans. He’d been rowdy there as well. Bloody Elbow reported that for whatever reason, he tossed a water bottle at Netflix reality star Chase DeMoor. TMZ Sports reported that DeMoor, who was sitting behind Diaz, heckled him. Diaz threw the bottle and the two nearly came to blows. DeMoor tried to throw a chair.
Afterwards, DeMoor taunted Diaz via Twitter.
“Nate Diaz decided to get mad and throw a prime bottle on me, that’s cute bro. … just next time don’t run. And stop spending your nights in the club trying to use your dried up MMA career to pull college girls while you’re out in New Orleans,” DeMoor said.
As for a reaction from Dana White: He knew immediately the unfortunate opponent wasn’t Logan Paul. White marveled at how Diaz “choked him out,” He then added “that guy’s head bounced like a f–cking basketball.”
And bad news for Diaz, White predicted he’s “going to get sued like a motherf–ker’.’
