Jake Shields charged with misdemeanor battery following alleged attack on Mike Jackson, bench warrant issued

Onetime UFC title challengeer and MMA coach Jake Shields has been charged with misdemeanor battery following an alleged assault on Mike Jackson this past December at the UFC Performance Institute.

According to online court records, Shields, 44, is charged with a single count of misdemeanor battery. A summons was issued for the retired fighter on Aug. 9, but he failed to appear at an arraignment on Sept. 21. The same day, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.

As of now, Shields hasn’t been detained or held in custody based on the misdemeanor charge. The fighter did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment.

During a recent interview with MMA Fighting ahead of his fight Oct. 14 against online rival Pat Miletich, Jackson, 38, revealed the charges in a rant on Shields.

“He’s a piece of s***,” Jackson said. “Jake Shields, I know somebody is going to tell you about this. You better be on your best behavior, you f****** coward. Because the man is looking [for you].

“He has a warrant out for his arrest because he’s a coward piece of s***. So he’s on the run essentially. He’s ducking and dodging the cops because they want to get him. The [district attorney] wants to get his ass real good. So that’s going to happen.”

The altercation between Jackson and Shields began on Twitter with an argument over race and politics. The situation boiled over this past December when both fighters were training at the UFC PI in Las Vegas.

Shields posted a video on his Twitter account and bragged about the incident, which appeared to show him on top of Jackson, throwing punches as crowd watched the melee unfold.

“Finally ran into the b**** Mike Jackson,” Shields wrote. “He quickly discovered the difference between calling people Nazis in person vs on Twitter. This racist is lucky so many people were there to save his pathetic racist ass.”

Jackson claimed Shields attacked him without provocation or warning, which led to him filing charges with Las Vegas police.

Jackson said he attempted to set up a boxing match against Shields to settle their differences in the ring, but the fight never came together.

“He’s pasting this narrative online that I’m scared of him and he whooped me,” Jackson said. “First of all, the dude attacked me from behind like the coward piece of s*** that he is. Fine. He said he wanted to fight. I gave him terms to fight. We agreed to the terms of the fight, and then he jumped me from behind.

“He agreed to box me. Those are his words. OK, you agreed to box me, here are the terms. We do PRIDE rules, 10-minute first round, and every round after that is five minutes. There is no round limit. We go until someone quits or someone gets knocked out, and it will be on a pay-per-view stream and we split the profits — 60 percent to the winner and 40 percent to the loser. He’s like ‘No, f*** that, you’re a p*****, I want to fight you UFC 1, bare-knuckle rules.’ You’re a f***** piece of s***.

“That’s fine, they’ve got a warrant out for your arrest, Jake Shields, you f****** piece of shit coward Nazi. They’re coming for you boy – you better watch out.”

In a misdemeanor case, law enforcement typically won’t search for a suspect; arrests often take place during routine traffic stops when police officers discover a bench warrant has been issued.

If convicted, Shields could face up to six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.