Logan Paul offered legal help to his lookalike Rodney Petersen after a street brawl left Petersen unconscious and bleeding on Bourbon Street.
As it turned out, Petersen had already retained counsel and was in the process of suing Diaz, Paul said Tuesday on his Impaulsive video podcast.
“I think he’ll probably be walking away with a pretty healthy check,” Paul said.
A request for comment to Petersen wasn’t immediately returned, and a name search for the Paul lookalike and Diaz returned no results in Orleans (La.) Parish civil court.
Paul said he was alerted to the street brawl shortly after a clip of Diaz allegedly choking out Petersen in New Orleans went viral.
“I just never thought that looking like me would get you fast-tracked to getting guillotined on Bourbon Street by a professional MMA fighter Nate Diaz,” he said.
Impaulsive co-host Jeff Wittek said Petersen told him he impersonated Paul at the Misfits Boxing 6 show that Diaz attended – and got into a brief water bottle-throwing melee. Petersen declined further comment, Wittek said, because of pending legal action.
Paul said he reached out to Petersen and said the lookalike required eight staples to close a head-wound from hitting the concrete after allegedly being choked out by Diaz.
Paul indicated Petersen was not entirely blameless for approaching Diaz on Bourbon Street, but he made it clear the UFC star was in the wrong for his response.
“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.”
In addition to his work on social media, Petersen is a jiu-jitsu practitioner with an amateur MMA record of 0-6. In the video, he is seen approaching Diaz with his hands up before Diaz takes him by the neck and applies the choke hold.
New Orleans police issued a warrant for Diaz’s arrest on suspicion of second-degree battery, a felony charge. He turned himself in to police and was quickly bonded out. His legal team said he was innocent of the charge and defending himself when the incident occurred.
Asked whether Diaz’s court case could affect his Aug. 5 fight with Jake Paul, Logan Paul said he was in the running to fight the UFC star before his younger brother got the job.
“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.”