Jake Shields unleashes a brutal head kick against Jon Fitch during their bout for the World Series of Fighting welterweight championship last Dec. 31, 2016. (Photo : Getty Images/Ed Mulholland)
People often see their favorite athletes as personal heroes and there are definitely times when they live up to these standards. One such example of this is MMA fighter and former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields. He came intervened during a protest at Berkeley, California wherein a man was being attacked by masked assailants.
Shields' line of work does not require him to dabble much, if at all, into the world of politics, though he believes that personal beliefs do not matter when you see a person being assaulted. The man who he saved from masked attackers was wearing a hat indicative of Donald Trump supporters, which was apparently the trigger for the attack.
"I don't think helping a person being attacked is a left thing or a right thing," Shields told Record Net in an exclusive interview. He also stated in the interview that free speech is not reserved only for those who lean to the left or right as well. Furthermore, he claims that he neither identifies as a Republican or a Democrat and was simply in shock of what the protests have become.
The protest at Berkeley was regarding the scheduled appearance of right-wing news editor Milo Yiannopoulos at the city's wing of the University of California. Shields was not there to personally attend the protest, but rather he was in a restaurant with his girlfriend near where the protests were happening. Yiannopoulos appearance has since been cancelled in light of the recent protests.
A video of Shields' heroic act has gone viral on social media. In the video's caption he claims that numerous civilians and even authority figures did not do anything to quell the attack that was happening right before them. Shields told the New York Post that police refused to go into the thick of the violence even when numerous people were being beaten.
The aftermath of me helping a guy after being jumped by thugs. The police and 100's of civilians stood and watched. pic.twitter.com/7hN2iJ4kkf
— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) February 2, 2017
Shields recalls that he was hit around ten times, but was able to use his superior fighting skills to stop the attacks before turning the physical altercation into a verbal one. However, Shields' account of what had transpired during the demonstration is in conflict with the account given by authority figures. They claim that only two students were harmed during the entirety of the rally.
Watch Shields recall his side of the story in the video below:
