“Where’s my rematch buddy," asked Miller, seizing the spotlight from the champion during his post-fight interview.
Shields’ teammate and Strikeforce lightweight titleholder who defended his belt against Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki in the co-main event told Miller to “back up.” Shields shoved the 29-year old fighter and chaos erupted as Shields' teammates stepped in, believing that Miller was disrespecting the fighter's moment in the sun in a title victory.
The altercation was shown live on CBS and made the rounds to every major network and sports station in the world.
On Sunday night, Miller posted an official statement on his website www.MayhemMiller.com on the incident, apologizing for his role in what happened in the cage on Saturday night in Nashville.
"I would like to formally apologize to CBS, Strikeforce, and all fans of mixed martial arts for my role in the events following the Strikeforce: Nashville event," said Miller. "In retrospect, my timing could not have been worse to ask for my rematch with Jake Shields, and I take full responsibility for entering the cage and setting off a chain of events that cast a dark shadow on the sport.
I've been a fighter and a fan of MMA for over 12 years, and would never do anything to intentionally tarnish the sport I've given my life to. In the excitement of the moment I let my emotions run high and made a bad choice that resulted in a debacle, for that, I sincerely apologize."
Miller competed on the same card earlier that night defeating Tim Stout in a preliminary match-up, and was cageside during Shields' victory over Henderson. The two fighters fought in November 2009 with Shields winning a unanimous decision over Miller to capture the Strikeforce middleweight title.
Despite his win over Stout, Miller was asked not to attend the customary post-fight press conference with the media following the altercation.
As of the post fight press conference on Saturday night, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker had not seen the incident, but vowed to review the situation and didn't rule out disciplinary action being handed down.
No word yet from the Tennessee Athletic Commission or the promotion about possible punishment or sanctions against any of the fighters involved in Saturday's melee.
Props: mmaweekly.com
coker should be happy this got strike force publicity and it actully is gunna make people wanna see mayhem vs shields again becuz no one would wanna see it after how boring the first one was cuz shields just layed on top of him the whole fight...... o wait he does that every fight but still..... ceaser gracies team is a disgrace to gracie family....
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