'Mayhem' Miller Apologizes for Strikeforce Brawl; Will It Be Enough for the Tennessee Athletic Commission?

(The scene after the riot. Mauro looks pretty close to throwing down himself. Photo courtesy of WatchKalibRun.)

After his poorly-timed challenge of Jake Shields backfired in violent fashion, Jason “Mayhem” Miller sent out a one-word reaction via Twitter: “Whoops.” Since “Whoops” is a tremendous understatement that doesn’t really capture the seriousness of the moment, Miller posted a longer mea culpa on his website last night:

“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. In retrospect, my timing could not have been worse to ask for my rematch with Jake Sheilds [sic], 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.”

It seems like I’m in the minority position here, but I think most of the blame for what happened at Strikeforce: Nashville lies with Miller rather than the Cesar Gracie camp, as Mayhem clearly violated the law of “Don’t Start No s**t, Won’t Be No s**t.” As of now, the fates of all the involved parties are still yet to be decided. From a new report on MMAJunkie:

The Tennessee Athletic Commission has launched an investigation into a post-event brawl that concluded the CBS-televised “Strikeforce: Nashville” event at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville this past weekend. MMAjunkie.com today contacted Jeffrey Mullen, the commission’s director, who declined to comment on the situation until the commission’s investigation is complete.

No timetable was given, but the investigation could lead to disciplinary action for those involved…The commission is likely to investigate who’s to blame for the fiasco. Additionally, officials from the regulatory body surely will re-evaluate procedures that allowed so many cornermen and other camp members to enter the cage.

And that’s precisely why you’d never see something like this go down in the UFC: Production is down to a science, and there are limits on who’s allowed in the cage. Following the main event at Saturday’s Strikeforce show, the cage was suddenly crowded with all of the winner’s friends and an MTV host/undercard fighter who had no right to be in the shot. Please, Strikeforce, never let it happen again.