It’s been 15 years since the infamous post-fight brawl at Strikeforce: Nashville.
In April 2010, Jake Shields survived being ‘laid out twice’ to defend his middleweight title by outpointing Dan Henderson over five rounds.
Post-fight, he was celebrating in the cage with his team, which included Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, and Gilbert Melendez.
However, his interview was interrupted by ex-opponent, Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller, who called for a rematch.
Dana White reacts to Nashville brawl
Miller’s attempt to hijack Sheilds’ post-fight interview sparked a mass brawl involving the Diaz Brothers.
Punches, elbows, and kicks were thrown in wild scenes that the commentator called ‘ridiculous’.
Nick and Nate took the brunt of the backlash for the brawl, but UFC boss Dana White pointed the blame at Strikeforce for allowing Miller to charge into the cage to confront Shields after he’d pulled off a monumental upset.
“What do you think is going to happen? I saw people talking, ‘Well, the UFC does the same thing’. No we don’t,” White said at the time.
“First of all, we are very controlled over who goes in and out of that Octagon after a fight. If there’s another fight that we are gonna set up, you wait until the guy gets done with his interview, then you bring the other guy in there and you let them say whatever they wanna say to each other.
“You don’t just let fighters run in and do whatever they wanna do. I honestly believe the Diaz Brothers are taking a lot of slack for this thing. Number one, Jake Shields pushed him first and Gilbert Melendez was in the middle of that too.
“Ask 1000 people this question: ‘If a fight breaks next to the Diaz Brothers, what do you think is gonna 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 f—— break.”
Dana White signed Jake Shields
The post-fight brawl didn’t put White off bringing Shields into MMA’s premier promotion.
A split decision win over Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut was enough to earn a title shot.
Georges St-Pierre outpointed Shields over five rounds to defend his welterweight belt April 2011.
Shields ultimately finished his UFC run with a 4-3 record, which included big-name wins over Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia.
In 2018, he retired after suffering a first-round knockout loss against Ray Cooper III at PFL 10.
