Victim claims Nick Diaz slammed her down, choked her in alleged domestic battery incident

A woman is claiming Nick Diaz choked her and slammed her down to the ground during an argument that turned physical last month.

Diaz, a popular UFC fighter, was arrested May 24 by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on charges of domestic battery by strangulation and domestic battery, the former of which is a felony. Diaz made $18,000 bond and is due again in Las Vegas Justice Court on June 24.

Per the arrest report obtained by MMA Fighting via a records request with the court, the victim is claiming that Diaz grabbed her by the head, slammed her down to the ground, and later choked her. The victim was also injured when she fell onto the corner of the pool during an outdoor scuffle with Diaz, she told police. When cops arrived, she was “visibly in a large amount of pain and could not walk.”

The victim was taken to the hospital with a potentially broken hip as a result of the fall, the report stated. She also had bruises on both legs, reddening of her neck and head, and pain in her head, per the report.

According to the report, the victim told police she confronted Diaz, described as her on-again-off-again boyfriend, that night when she found out he was having sex with one of her friends. She said they yelled and argued and she threw a glass of water at his face. Diaz, becoming angrier, “grabbed her by the head and slammed her to the ground, hitting her head against the floor,” she told police.

Initially, the victim told cops that Diaz chased her outside the residence, picked her up and slammed her down on the edge of the pool. The report said the victim’s story changed when she spoke to another officer at the hospital. The victim stated at the hospital that Diaz choked her for about 30 seconds when they were outside, only releasing it when she thought she was about to pass out.

Diaz said he was going to throw her in the pool, the victim claimed, grabbing her by the face and pushing her toward it. But the victim said she grabbed onto him, causing her to fall short of the water and land instead on the corner of the pool on her hip.

Per the report, because the victim’s injuries were “severe” and Diaz was not injured, officers determined that Diaz was the “primary physical aggressor.”

The victim told police that Diaz had never been violent with her previously, except for the past several days. She said that he became violent after beginning to use cocaine and added that they had a fight the day before, leaving bruises on her thighs.

When news of Diaz’s arrest came to light, his close friend Matt Staudt took to social media to defend him. Staudt said Diaz wouldn’t put his hands on anyone “unless it was necessary self-defense.” He called the victim “deranged” and “insane,” claiming that she has stalked Diaz for more than two years.

“If Nick’s at fault it is because he has chosen again and again and again not to make a police report against her like I’ve advised profusely in the past when she has hit him or broke his phone or broke into his place or stolen things from him or threatened suicide, etc,” Staudt wrote.

Diaz, the former Strikeforce welterweight champion, has not fought in the UFC since 2015. UFC president Dana White said recently that he was considering a comeback.