Former Strikeforce champion Jake Shields has responded to Mike Jackson’s statements following a recent altercation at the UFC Performance Institute last week.
After multiple heated exchanges over Twitter involving accusations of racism, Shields (33-11-1 MMA) ran into Jackson (1-2 MMA) during a training session, and the situation became physical. Shields posted a short video to social media, which saw the grappling specialist on top of Jackson.
“First off, I never heard of Mike, we originally got into it on Twitter,” Shields told MMA Junkie. “He started calling me a Nazi for no reason. I had no idea who he was. Usually, I would just block someone if they called me a Nazi, but I saw he was in the fight industry. I’m extremely respected in the fight industry, everyone in the fight industry, for the most part, loves me.
“No one’s ever called me a racist, nor would they. So for this guy in my industry thinking he was going to get away with that, I told him, ‘When I see you, Mike, there’s going to be consequences.’”
Jackson told MMA Junkie he was visiting the PI for the second time since facial surgery after a knockout loss in his last UFC fight. According to Jackson, when Shields entered the training area he began yelling at him from across the room. Due to his recent surgery, Jackson said he did not want to engage and risk complications while in recovery from the surgery.
Both men said Jackson called Shields a Nazi, which apparently was the tipping point that turned the altercation from verbal to physical.
“I saw him at the PI and I got in the cage, and I’m like, ‘You said you would fight me when you saw me, that I was too scared of you in my white fragility, so let’s go,’” Shields said. “He kept making excuses, saying, ‘No, we’re going to fight in Houston, my trainer already said we’d fight in Houston.’ … I tried to get him to come in and he wouldn’t come in, and then he called me a Nazi. I’m like, alright.
“I got out of the cage, went over, slapped him, picked him up, threw him on the ground, slapped him a few times. I didn’t punch him because you know, you punch men, you slap bitches. He’s such a little bitch, so I slapped him a few times. He tried to gouge my eye like a little bitch. He’s like begging saying, ‘Please someone help me, please someone get him off me.’ … I wish they would have let me slap him 30, 40 more times, but they pulled me off and that was kind of it.”
According to Shields, he did not attack Jackson from behind as was claimed, rather both men stepped toward each other at the same time. After the brief altercation, the two parties were separated as UFC PI staff got involved and began asking questions about what occurred.
Jackson said he was told Shields would be banned from the building, but Shields says he has yet to speak with anyone about not being allowed on the premises.
“He doesn’t realize there are people that aren’t going to take it lightly being called a racist and a Nazi,” Shields said. “… If there wasn’t consequences, I would hurt him if it wasn’t for jail. I would go and put the guy in the hospital, maybe worse. He doesn’t understand there’s consequences for this stuff. He’s going to run into some people, and if he’s not careful, they’re going to kill him.”
Shields took exception to being labeled a Nazi by Jackson, and pointed to his reputation in the fight community with his peers of many races and backgrounds as evidence he is anything but racist.
“One hundred percent of the fighters are praising me, including every Black fighter,” Shields said. “That should tell him something. If I’m a Nazi, why is every single fighter praising me, not him? Shouldn’t all the other Black and Jewish fighters be on his side for him trying to stand up to Nazis?
“It’s so insane how un-self-aware he is. … This guy is so obsessed with race, it’s really strange. To be honest, I don’t know if he even knows any Black people. I’ve never seen him with a Black person.”
Shields says he has been notified Jackson intends to press charges against him, but isn’t confident that Jackson has much of a case considering he didn’t “hurt” him, and their back-and-forth exchanges on social media.
