UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones is no stranger to fist fights. He’s competed 30 times in professional MMA and infamously brawled with Daniel Cormier at a UFC 178 media event. But Jones never witnessed anything like Nate Diaz’s recent melee on a Russian reality show set.
On Wednesday, videos emerged from the reality show set in Thailand. Jones and Diaz were supposed to coach on “The Ultimate Fighter” style show. A physical altercation between Diaz and a contestant quickly spiraled into a multi-man skirmish. Jones did not get physically involved but recounted the incident.
“We had one of our young fighters, a guy named Zalik, who was playing with Nate,” Jones told Red Corner MMA on Thursday. “He wanted to play-fight with Nate.
“Nate kind of came in a little bit on edge. I think he had some previous beef with some Russian fighters, so he was a little bit on edge when he got here. Play-fighting with Nate was not the best idea. It became serious right away, and we had to replace Nate.”
Jones may be referring to Diaz’s issues with former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Khamzat Chimaev. Diaz allegedly slapped Nurmagomedov in 2015 and had a backstage altercation with Chimaev in 2022.
Whatever the cause, Jones described the brawl as unlike anything he’d seen in his 17 years as a mixed martial artist.
“I’ve been around the Bushido spirit for a long time, that martial arts spirit where everybody has a certain degree of, kind of certain rules you don’t cross,” Jones said. “Like a martial arts spirit and everything.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of that here. Some guys are like warriors, and some guys are really just kind of street fighters. There’s insults, there’s weapons, this show — there’s nothing like it. There’s really nothing like it.”
According to Diaz’s teammate Jake Shields, Diaz and his team left after the incident and flew home to California.
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