Jake Shields, Mike Jackson erupt in physical altercation at UFC PI over social media insults; both threaten legal action

Online bad blood has spilled over into real life for two UFC veterans.

Former Strikeforce champion Jake Shields posted a video to Twitter on Friday showing a physical altercation between him and four-fight UFC veteran Mike Jackson, which took place at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. Shields and Jackson have feuded over social media extensively on a variety of issues such as race, politics, and more.

“Finally ran into the b**** Mike Jackson,” Shields wrote on Twitter. “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.”

In the video, which can be seen below, Shields is shown controlling Jackson from side control and then mount position while several bystanders stand around watching the pair. “You’re a little b****, you said you were going to f*** me up,” Shields says to Jackson in the clip, which prompts a response from Jackson asking the assembled crowd for help. Shields then appears to posture up from mount and throw strikes at Jackson before the clip ends.

In a follow-up tweet, Shields invited Jackson to the Xtreme Couture gym for a rematch and explained “they dragged me off [Jackson] because he was begging for mercy.”

Following the incident, Jackson and Shields continued to attack one another on Twitter, with Shields repeatedly calling for Jackson to show up to Xtreme Couture and Jackson and indicating that he left the former Strikeforce champion with a bloody eye.

Jackson told MMA Fighting’s Steven Marrocco on Friday afternoon that he plans to press charges on Shields for the incident.

Shields told MMA Fighting that he spoke to an attorney who relayed that he has firm ground for a defamation suit against Jackson for his accusations related to nazidom.

Jackson, 37, has split his four UFC appearances, sandwiching victories over CM Punk (which was later overturned to a no-contest due to a positive test for marijuana) and Dean Barry between first-round stoppage losses to Mickey Gall and Pete Rodriguez.

Shields, 43, retired from MMA in 2018 following a first-round knockout loss to Ray Cooper III in the PFL playoffs. The veteran grappler holds notable wins over Dan Henderson, Tyron Woodley, Demian Maia, Carlos Condit, Robbie Lawler, Paul Daley, and more.