Sometimes you really just have to “Beat It.” It doesn’t matter who’s wrong or right, just beat it. But apparently neither a random guy in a green shirt or a Michael Jackson impersonator wanted to heed those words. I guess no one wants to be defeated so the two men decided to duke it out while bystanders decided to record the action. Because, let’s face it, sure there might be an ethical obligation to try to stop people from hurting themselves, but when else are you going to get a chance to watch an MJ impersonator show that he’s really, really bad?
In a TMZ report, a clip shows two men getting into an altercation on Freemont Street. Taken on January 15th, the footage begins in media res, so we’re not able to see how things started. Maybe one person had something to “Say, Say, Say,” to the other and it turned into a “Thriller” from there. A subsequent interview conducted with the impersonator, otherwise known as Santana Jackson, indicates the attacker wasn’t some sort of “Smooth Criminal,” just a guy who literally struck him unprovoked.
As we see it, the altercation starts off with both fighters standing with the man in green kind of awkwardly flailing at Jackson. Jackson evades the punches by keeping his arms outstretched to maintain distance between him and the alleged attacker. The man then tries to go for a kick but the half-hearted attack doesn’t faze Jackson at all. It does leave the man open for the impersonator to sweep the man’s left leg from behind, allowing Jackson to take the man down to the ground. Clearly he’s a disciple of Cobra Kai.
From there, the fight is basically over and done with. Jackson is able to move around his opponent until he’s in position to place the other man in a chokehold. The man in green tries to fight dirty… or “Dirty Diana” in this case, trying to pull on Jackson’s hair and clothes to escape. None of his tactics work though, resulting in Jackson just applying more and more pressure to stop the man from continuing the attack that he allegedly began.
Again, we don’t know all the details to know if Jackson was truly attack completely unprovoked, but if he was, then he arguably did one of the best possible jobs he could’ve at defending himself while causing minimal damage to his attacker. Yes, chokeholds are dangerous, but if they’re being implemented purely in self-defense, by someone who has been trained in them, they can be a very effective means of subduing a potentially dangerous person who may cause harm to people.
It should come as no surprise that in the interview, Jackson stated he’s a professional wrestler. While most wrestling is scripted, the athleticism is far from fake. Which explains why the performer so ably defended himself. It also explains why he didn’t punch the man, and instead went to take him down. Punching someone in just the right/wrong way can cause unforeseen damage or death. Sweeping someone to the ground and subduing them though is far less likely to cause harm.
Ultimately the fight was broken up by bystanders, but the man in green seemed ready to go at it again just seconds later. Clearly he didn’t seem to understand that he was beat, that or he didn’t want to let his ego take a hit and acted like he could’ve taken the guy again. Police arrived at the seen to make sure the situation was resolved, and that the men didn’t stop ’til they got enough.
Maybe it’s just “Human Nature” to fight with one another, but we at Nerdbot would like to think that if we took a little more time to look at the “Man in the Mirror,” then maybe we wouldn’t get so “Off The Wall” sometimes.
And if you feel that this string of puns is getting a bit old, don’t worry, “You Are Not Alone,” as my editor has to read this too and I can almost feel her glare as she’s reading this.
Follow Santana Jackson on Instagram here.
