“Play-fighting with Nate was not the best idea. It got serious real quick, and we had to replace him,” Jon Jones told Red Corner MMA after chaos erupted on the set of the ALF reality show. ‘Bones’ might be the baddest man on the planet right now, but things took a wild turn when a fighter named Zalik confronted his opposing coach, Nate Diaz. As the situation unfolded, it became crystal clear that neither of these guys was to be messed with.

Former UFC fighter Jake Shields, who once challenged Georges St-Pierre for the title at UFC 129, was right there in the middle of the chaos as part of Team Diaz. He broke down the whole wild scene on his YouTube channel, FightBack, and later claimed that some Russian guys followed them after they left. Since then, speculation has been flying, with many assuming that the Stockton native’s long-standing beef with Dagestani fighters might’ve been what sparked the brawl in the first place.

Diaz has been in his fair share of altercations over the years. We all know about the heated rivalry with Conor McGregor, but he also had a scuffle with Khabib Nurmagomedov back in 2015 in Vegas. And just earlier this year, he tossed a few water bottles at Islam Makhachev backstage at UFC 311. But this latest brawl hits differently. For once, people seemed genuinely concerned for him. Even Team Khabib’s head coach, Javier Mendez, while not exactly taking Diaz’s side, voiced his concern about the whole situation.

In the Javier and Mo Show, The Aka Coach said, “I’m not for that, what I’ve seen in that wasn’t so cool. Jake Shields more or less said that he and Nate Diaz are out, they left. Whether it was a ploy just to get more attention, if that’s what it was, it worked! But, if wasn’t a ploy, everything Jake said would make perfect sense to me as it’s too dangerous. You’ve got to watch out for the people who worked for them. It’s one thing to watch out the fighters, but it’s another thing to have the people you are being filmed by or work with actually punch on you.”

It’s a fair point by Mendez. This whole thing could’ve been orchestrated just to draw more attention to the show. And honestly, we won’t really know until more details start to come out. But here’s the thing: the situation even got someone like Chael Sonnen fired up. In a recent YouTube video, he revealed that he was ready to fly out to Thailand with Diaz’s longtime friend Gilbert Melendez because he genuinely believed the brawl was premeditated.

‘The Bad Guy’ was all in when it came to defending the Stockton native. But his Good Guy/Bad Guy co-host, Daniel Cormier, had a slightly different take, as he wasn’t surprised Diaz got into a brawl. So let’s take a look at what the former two-division champ had to say about the whole situation

Daniel Cormier unfazed by Nate Diaz’s wild brawl on ALF reality show

The ALF reality show couldn’t be more chaotic, and honestly, that might be exactly what’s making it so entertaining. As more details come to light, it’s clear the show had some big plans to stand out as a knockoff version of The Ultimate Fighter. Interestingly, it turns out Daniel Cormier revealed on his YouTube video, that he was  pitched to coach opposite Jon Jones before Nate Diaz stepped in. 

DC wasn’t shocked at all when Nate Diaz threw hands on the Russian show he was starring in. According to him, once he saw the Dagestani crowd involved, probably linked to Khabib, he figured it was only a matter of time before things got ugly. Given Nate’s history with the Dagestani fighters.

Cormier on his YouTube channel said: “Nate Diaz doesn’t think Khabib is a fighter, which is unbelievable. These guys have been going back and forth for years. They’ve gotten into fights. They can’t be in the same area. I’m pretty sure someone over there on Russian TUF has some sort of ties to Khabib. But you stick Nate Diaz on there and what happens? He gets into a fight very, very early into the filming of the show.”

Bitter rivalries have always been part of UFC history. Some get ugly, but most of the time, they stay contained within the teams. In this case, though, the tension between Diaz and Nurmagomedov’s camp spilled over. Given their past, it’s no surprise things escalated on the ALF reality show, and if Diaz had stayed any longer, it could’ve gotten even worse.

That brings up an interesting question: with Nate out of the picture, could Daniel Cormier step in as a replacement? Or will the showrunners play it safe this time and bring in someone with a more neutral presence? Let us know by commenting below.