Eight years ago, Nate Diaz was involved in the most infamous brawl MMA had ever seen.
Nate Diaz was in the Strikeforce cage when his teammate Jake Shields pulled off an upset few had predicted. Shields was a 4/1 underdog for his Strikeforce middleweight defence against Dan Henderson. Five hard-fought rounds later, his hand was getting raised bringing his win-streak up to a staggering 13 fights.
It should have been a joyous occasion for Shields, who was widely expected to sign for the UFC after his contract had ended. However, Shields was only able to get three sentences of his victory speech out before being interrupted by the man he won the vacant title against.
Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller somehow entered the cage, got right up in Shields’ grill and requested a rematch into the mic. He was subsequently shoved which sparked a huge brawl involving members of Shields’ camp including, but not limited to Gilbert Melendez, Nick and Nate Diaz.
The Fallout
Shields, Nick, Nate, Melendez and Miller all apologised for their involvement in the brawl while the then-Strikeforce president and president Scott Coker said ‘there was no room for that kind of behaviour’ at the post-fight press conference.
UFC president Dana White reaction’s got a big laugh from members of the media that were present.
‘Ask a thousand people this question. A fight breaks out next to the Diaz brothers, what do you think’s going to happen? Is that a shock to anybody? Really, a fight broke out with the Diaz brothers’ friends and they got involved? That’s weird. Come on, give me a fucking break.’
By chance, McGregor’s infamous attack on the red corner fighters’ bus happened two weeks before the eight-year anniversary of the brawl. Naturally, Nate couldn’t resist using the occasion to score a few points on his arch rival.
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