Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — MMA fighter Nate Diaz has been arrested after New Orleans police say he helped cause a large brawl on the city’s party-crowded Bourbon Street over the weekend.
A spokesperson with the New Orleans Police Department says the professional fighter turned himself into authorities Thursday morning alongside his attorney. The 38-year-old faces a second-degree battery charge in connection to a large fight that broke out in the French Quarter early Saturday morning.
Police say just after 2 a.m. Saturday, officers responded to a large crowd in the 400 block of Bourbon Street where multiple groups of people were fighting. One of those people was Diaz, who reportedly choked out another man.
Diaz’s attorney Walter Becker says the fighter’s actions were made in self-defense when 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.
In another tweet from MMA news media outlet MMA Dirt, Peterson responded to the fight, showing off injuries from the altercation that included bruising to his neck and lacerations to the back of his head. He also vowed revenge against the fighter, saying “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.”
Diaz is being held at the Orleans Parish Justice Center where a spokesperson says he will remain pending an initial court appearance on June 27. His bond has been set at $10,000.
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