Report: UFC star Nate Diaz acted in self-defense choking out Logan Paul lookalike, attorney says

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - An attorney for Nate Diaz says the former UFC star was acting in self-defense when he choked a man to unconsciousness on Bourbon Street, according to TMZ Sports.

TMZ says Diaz’s rep sent a statement saying the alleged victim is a trained fighter named Rodney Peterson who “aggressively pursued Nate with the intention of engaging him and once doing so, Nate acted entirely in self-defense.”

The New Orleans Police Department confirmed Monday that an arrest warrant had been obtained for the 38-year-old mixed martial arts superstar, and said Diaz he would be booked with second-degree battery if taken into custody. The department said Diaz is not in custody and it was unclear whether he planned to surrender on the warrant.

More: NOPD obtains arrest warrant for former UFC star Nate Diaz after alleged Bourbon Street tussle

Diaz, a native of Stockton, Calif., was seen in New Orleans last weekend, attending a boxing match on Friday night and then being involved in an altercation around 2:10 a.m. Saturday (April 22) on a sidewalk in the 400 block of Bourbon Street.

In a video clip widely shared on social media, Diaz allegedly puts a man with whom he was arguing into a chokehold until the man loses consciousness. Diaz appears to release the man from the hold and lets him fall backward, striking the back of his head on the street.

Police said the alleged victim was bleeding from the rear of his head and EMS was called to render aid.

“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,” Diaz’s representative Zach Rosenfield said in a statement to TMZ Sports.

The NOPD said officers arrived to disperse a crowd at the scene of a “large altercation,” but Diaz already had left.

Peterson is widely known as a Logan Paul lookalike, the brother of YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.

Diaz left UFC last year at the end of his contract and is expected to make his professional boxing debut later this year against Jake Paul.

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