Joe Schilling knocked out a random guy in a bar. He claims it was self-defence and that the guy was being racist.
MMA fighter and kickboxer Joe Schilling, who has appeared for both Bellator and Glory, went viral yesterday after footage of him starching a bar patron appeared on the internet.
In that video, Schilling appears to nudge a man out of his way. When that man confronts Schilling, the pro fighter quickly strikes the man at least twice to the head. The man drops to the ground and appears to be unconscious.
You can watch that confrontation here.
Schilling has now shared his side of the story. In an Instagram post he claimed this incident had been brewing before it boiled over.
“The bus boy who happens to be black walks by and this idiot bumps into him and screams out, ‘Me and broke n— [sic] we don’t get along,’” Schilling wrote (ht MMA Fighting). “The bus boy was seriously offended but doesn’t want to lose his job.
“As the night goes on this clown starts looking at me and rapping whatever song is being played while making eye contact with me. I’m like what’s wrong with this idiot.”
Schilling then claimed that when he moved past the man in question, the man acted aggressively and that this is what lead to him throwing strikes.
“He yells, ‘HEY’ I turn around and he flexes on me … bad decisions are made every day.”
Schilling also claimed that both the busboy and the DJ later thanked him for his actions. Schilling also said—with his tongue clearly in his cheek—that this was a clear act of self-defence.
“As you can see from this video when he flexed on me I was scared for my life and simply defending myself against the evil in this world”
Schilling’s last MMA appearance was a KO loss to Tony Johnson at Bellator 229. That dropped his MMA record to 4-6. Almost all of Schilling’s MMA career has been under the Bellator banner, where he holds wins over Melvin Manhoef, Will Morris and Keith Berry.
Schilling also appeared in Bellator kickboxing, going 4-1 in that enterprise. Schilling’s overall kickboxing record stands at 23-9. He is a former Glory middleweight world champion and he holds notable wins over Artem Levin, Simon Marcus and Kaoklai Kaennorsing.