Logan Paul offered to help Rodney Petersen, his lookalike, who was left unconscious and bleeding on Bourbon Street after a street brawl.
However, Paul later found out that Petersen had already retained a lawyer and was in the process of suing Nate Diaz. Paul mentioned on his Impaulsive video podcast that Petersen would likely receive a substantial payout from the lawsuit. Despite attempts to find Petersen's name in the Orleans (La.) Parish civil court, no results came up.
Paul discovered the street brawl after a clip of Diaz allegedly choking out Petersen in New Orleans went viral. According to Petersen, who impersonated Paul at the Misfits Boxing 6 show attended by Diaz, the altercation started with a brief water bottle-throwing fight. Petersen declined to comment further due to the ongoing legal action.
Paul stated that Petersen approached Diaz on Bourbon Street and wasn't entirely blameless, but Diaz was in the wrong for his response. Paul said he contacted Petersen, who required eight staples to close a head wound after being choked out by Diaz and hitting the concrete.
“The issue was he was walking toward him, and what you said, you can go from [hands up to punching],” Paul said. “But it’s Nate Diaz, that’s the thing and maybe Nate felt like he was in danger or something.
“But I reached out to the guy, and I was like, ‘This is f***** up,’ like it was actually hard to watch. And I felt bad for him, and he looks like me – we’ve got to protect our kind – and so I offered to fund the lawsuit against Nate Diaz.”
Paul added: “It turns out the legal team we connected him to is taking the case pro bono because ... I would assume they think it’s a takeaway. Like there isn’t really much to say about a professional MMA fighter choked out a civilian with relatively zero combat – no combat excuse.”
Petersen, who is a jiu-jitsu practitioner and has an amateur MMA record of 0-6, can be seen approaching Diaz with his hands up in the video before Diaz takes him by the neck and applies the chokehold. Following the incident, New Orleans police issued a warrant for Diaz's arrest on a felony charge of second-degree battery. Diaz turned himself in and was quickly bonded out, and his legal team has maintained that he was innocent of the charge and acted in self-defense.
Regarding Diaz's upcoming fight with Jake Paul on August 5th, Logan Paul mentioned that he was initially in the running to fight the UFC star before his younger brother was selected. It remains to be seen whether Diaz's legal situation will have any impact on the scheduled bout.
“It’s annoying,” Logan Paul. “You know why it’s annoying? I’ll say it – because I was supposed to fight Nate. I was supposed to fight Nate. He goes and fights with my little brother instead, and then chokes out my lookalike in the street. What the f*** is that? So weird. He’s a bully. He’s whack, dude. But I don’t think it affects it at all.”
At a Tuesday press conference for the Paul vs. Diaz fight, Diaz appeared to joke about choking out Logan Paul during the incident. Asked by Jake Paul if he thought he was choking out Logan Paul, Diaz responded, “You going to act like that wasn’t Logan? C’mon, man.”
“Definitely in a flash, you thought it was Logan?” Jake Paul asked.
“Yeah,” Diaz replied. “It is Logan. What are you talking about? You guys saw what happened to Logan? Is he here? Shout-out to Logan. He’s going to be alright. You don’t just hit people out there. That’s f****** dangerous. Give them a little nap.”
“I think you kneed him, too,” Paul said.
“That’s nice, too,” Diaz replied. “Slowed it down a little bit.”
On the night Diaz faces the younger Paul, the elder Paul said he could be performing in the WWE ring for the pro-wrestling promotion’s SummerSlam event. He said Aug. 5 would be a “crazy night for the Pauls” and added “Jake better win.”