NEW ORLEANS — Former UFC fighter Nate Diaz is facing a second-degree battery charge for his involvement in a street brawl on Bourbon Street this weekend.
A video shows him choking a man who then appears unconscious but the fighter claims he was acting in self-defense.
Diaz was in New Orleans for the Misfits boxing event at Xavier Friday night.
Videos show dozens of the fighters and social media influencers out on Bourbon Street late that night when several appeared to start fighting in the street.
A video taken around 2 a.m. Saturday shows part of the large fight outside Crescent City Pizza.
A few seconds into the video you see Diaz choking a man and then laying him on the ground. NOPD said the man was believed to be laying unconscious.
"From my perspective, it was like everything was good, I said what's up to everybody, I turn around and there's a huge brawl taking place," said TikTok influencer JP who goes by 'Overtflow.'
JP is a gaming influencer and black belt in Jiu Jitsu and is connected with the influencer boxing community.
He was at the Misfits boxing event along with Diaz. JP said the Bourbon brawl stemmed from altercations during the event.
"There was this huge scuffle that happened in the arena," he said.
Hours later on Bourbon Street is when JP witnessed part of the street fighting.
"From the scuffle earlier that happened at the event, there was some trash talk, bad blood I suppose. I say what's up to Nate, I look back and there's just a huge scuffle taking place, some people try to separate it," JP said. "Four or five cops on the scene immediately."
The NOPD said officers were able to disperse the crowd.
NOPD said in a statement: "Witness alerted the officers to a white male subject who was believed to be unconscious. A short time later, the subject regained consciousness. Officers observed the subject was bleeding from the rear of his head and EMS was summoned to render aid."
JP said the other man involved in this video is Rodney Peterson, a social media influencer in the boxing community who is considered a Logal Paul look-alike. Peterson eventually regained consciousness and was bleeding from the back of his head, according to NOPD.
"I think he had to get stitches, he hit his head pretty hard," JP said.
Police later issued an arrest warrant for Diaz who faces a second-degree battery charge.
Diaz' representative Zach Rosenfield said the fighter's attorneys have been in contact with the NOPD.
"Nate's attorney Walter Becker can confirm that Nate has received word of the arrest warrant and Becker has been in contact with court authorities in New Orleans," Rosenfield said. "Nate's attorney looks forward to presenting all of the facts about this incident to the District Attorney which clearly demonstrate 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."
Diaz is not in custody at this time.
Diaz retweeted a tweet by another pro-fighter that defends Diaz. The post argues he was in a defensive posture and only a foot from the wall.
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