UFC welterweight Mike Jackson intends on making Jake Shields pay the consequences for what he considers to be an “assault” at the UFC Performance Institute last week.
After weeks of social media exchanges over Twitter in which Jackson called Shields a “white nationalist,” and former Strikeforce champ Shields fired back calling Jackson “racist” and more, the friction came to a head when they crossed paths in Las Vegas.
According to Jackson, he was visiting the UFC PI for just the second training session since a recent face surgery stemming from a knockout loss in his most recent UFC bout. He said he was hitting pads with his coach when he heard Shields begin to yell at him from another part of the room. Jackson said he knew Shields was there but didn’t mind too much given the circumstances and location.
“He looks like a f*cking gorilla, Jake Shields,” Jackson told MMA Junkie. “He’s probably 230, 240 (pounds) right now just steroided up. He’s just looking at me. … I understand the beef he and I have on social media, but in my mind, I’m like, ‘We’re at the PI in a business setting.’ I know he’s not in the UFC, so therefore he’s a guest at the PI.”
Jackson said Shields, a former UFC welterweight title challenger during his career, spent roughly the next five minutes heckling him. He was repeatedly called a “piece of sh*t racist,” according to Jackson, and said Shields repeatedly challenged him to step into the UFC PI octagon for a fight.
According to Jackson, Shields had five other men with him, while Jackson had only his coach. When striking coach Dewey Cooper told Jackson it would be in his best interest to leave, he said he started to oblige and gather his gear.
That’s when Shields spit on him for the first time, Jackson said. He said he continued to gather his belongings, then the “gang of thugs with Jake Shields as the ring leader” circled him. Jackson said that Shields slapped him on the top of the head, then spit on him a second time.
“In my mind, I’m so frustrated at the situation, because I can’t really do anything,” Jackson said. “I can’t do anything for health reasons for my own purposes (because of the face surgery), plus I’m at the PI. I don’t know what their protocol is, if I engage with him, if they’ll kick us both out.”
As Jackson was apparently getting ready to leave, he called Shields a “Nazi.” One of Shields’ group members took exception to that and shoved Jackson from behind, he said, then shortly after claimed he was “pulled down to the ground” by Shields.
That’s when the portion of the altercation posted to social media took place. Shields got on top of Jackson and started throwing punches, while Jackson asked for assistance from of the surrounding figures. Jackson said he did his best to defend himself and thinks he got a good lick of his own in on Shields.
“When they finally got him up, he had blood coming down his face,” Jackson said. “I know the motherf*cker spit on me, which was so disrespectful and such a f*cking white nationalist thing to do; I washed that off. But when Jake Shields looks in the mirror every day, whether he goes blind – because I don’t know if I hit the eyeball or it was on the skin – whenever he looks in the mirror and sees that little abrasion, he’s going to remember me. He’s going to remember the anti-Nazi Mike Jackson.”
Jackson said that, after everything was broken up, UFC employees kicked Shields out of the facility and asked Jackson if he wants to press charges. Jackson said he intends to do just that. He believes this was an assault situation in which he was the victim.
Shields told MMAFighting.com in a statement that he was admittedly “out of line” but said it was Jackson who first got physical and threw a punch in his direction. Jackson vehemently denies that accusation and said the security footage from the UFC PI will confirm he wasn’t the instigator.
“(The UFC staff was) like, ‘He’s banned. Jake Shields is banned. He can never come back here, so what you wanna do? He can’t come back to the PI. Do you want to leave it at that or press charges?'” Jackson said. “All of this is assault. Apparently the dude is running around saying I punched him or I threw a punch or something. None of that’s true. Here’s why I know it’s true: I didn’t throw a punch at the guy, and all of this is on video.”
Jackson said he hasn’t officially filed charges against Shields but said they’re coming after his upcoming follow-up with the police officer assigned to his case. He said he wouldn’t have been as bothered if this same scenario played out in the streets, but Shields opted to engage at the UFC PI, and Jackson wants to make him feel the repercussions of those actions.
“You can’t go around doing thuggish sh*t and expect there to be no consequences,” Jackson said. “Jake Shields has to understand there are consequences for your white nationalism action my guy. And you are going to suffer that. You can be upset, but you have no one to blame other than yourself.”
