NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A lawyer for Nate Diaz, an MMA fighter wanted by New Orleans Police for reportedly starting a large fight on Bourbon Street, has spoken out, claiming the fighter’s actions were self-defense.
The fight happened over the weekend in the city’s French Quarter when Becker says Rodney Peterson, deemed on social media as a doppelganger of fellow MMA fighter Logan Paul, tried to start a fight with Diaz. The incident was caught on camera by another fighter, Paul Bamba.
Another angle in a video tweeted by Jake Shields, who is also an MMA fighter, shows several duos of people engaged in fights before the camera pans over to Diaz and Peterson. As the camera briefly pans back to another group of people fist-fighting, the next shot shows Peterson on the ground, appearing to be choked out.
In another tweet from MMA news media outlet MMA Dirt, Peterson responds to the fight, appearing to have bruising to his neck and lacerations to the back of his head. He also vowed revenge against Diaz.
“I don’t know what the hell I did to Nate Diaz, but I’ll tell you what — I’m going to knock him the [explicit] out when I know he’s coming,” Peterson says in the video.
In a statement received by WGNO, attorney Walter Becker says Diaz was ‘entirely self-defense’ in response to Peterson aggressively pursuing a fight with Diaz.
“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,” Becker says.
An arrest warrant has since been issued for Diaz on a single second-degree battery charge. Becker adds his team is in contact with New Orleans authorities regarding the charge.
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