Former UFC fighter Jake Shields says he came to the rescue of a bloodied Donald Trump supporter Wednesday, when he spotted masked men beating the supporter in the heat of political protests at the University of California, Berkeley.
Shields, who currently fights as a welterweight on the World Series of Fighting (WSOF) circuit, said he was leaving dinner with his girlfriend near Berkeley’s campus when he saw a man in a Trump hat running defenseless through the streets, while disguised men with weapons chased him down.
“That’s when I had to intervene, because no one is helping the guy, including the police,” Shields told MMAjunkie.
The Jiu-Jitsu black belt claimed he brought an end to the chaotic scene — by punching a few of the attackers. One of his victims even recognized him.
“There were hundreds of them around, with weapons, so I was trying to diffuse the situation with the least amount of effort possible,” he said. “Generally, when you throw a punch, guys back off.”
Shields, 38, turned the physical altercation into a verbal one, calling the attackers out for the hypocrisy of their actions.
“Dude, you guys got your face covered, you’re attacking people – you’re being f—ing fascists,” he told one of the protesters.
Shields was most bothered by the public’s unwillingness to intervene, most notably the police.
“I went to try to get police assistance, and they said they wouldn’t go in there. People were getting attacked and beat up,” he said. “I stood around and tried to stop some other people from getting beat, and it just kept getting more and more chaotic, so eventually I left. There were just too many people and too many weapons, so it was time for me to get out of there. I tried to get the police to do their job, but they weren’t willing to.”
Reflecting on Wednesday’s mayhem — which started before highly controversial Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos was scheduled to give a speech — Shields, who identifies as neither a Republican nor a Democrat, said he was disgusted by the protesters’ approach.
“I don’t think those people are capable of rationalizing,” he said.
Yiannopoulos’ event, which was organized by the Berkeley Student Republicans, was canceled when student riots broke out. Shields’ violent story conflicts with the accounts of university police, who claim only two members of the student group were harmed.