6 Shocking Brawls That Surrounded Huge MMA Fights

By Jay Anderson /

5. The Nashville Brawl

When your brawl is so infamous that is has a proper name to describe it, you know you're in the history books - for all the wrong reasons. The Nashville Brawl took place at Strikeforce: Nashville in 2010, prior to Zuffa purchasing the promotion, so Dana White is off the hook on this one - though he would later sign all of those involved in the melee. It was both in the aftermath of a fight, and an attempt at setting up a future fight. Unsurprisingly, the two biggest names in the brawl were Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Nick Diaz. Following Jake Shield's bout with Dan Henderson in the main event, which he won, Miller, who had fought earlier in the evening, managed to get inside the cage, and demanded a rematch with shields (they had fought a year earlier, with Miller losing a unanimous decision). Shields and Gilbert Melendez both pushed Miller away before Nick Diaz through the initial punch, resulting in brawl with Nick and Nate Diaz attacking Miller and the referee and Dan Henderson's camp coming in to clean up the mess. Miller and five others were suspended several months and fined. It would not be the last appearance in such messes for Diaz however, while Miller would become known for strange behavior in later years, including being found naked in a church and throwing racial slurs towards Uriah Hall.