A benches-clearing brawl recently erupted in Anaheim on Tuesday night. During the chaotic scene unfolding near the pitcher’s mound, 62-year-old Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss swiftly brought 6-foot-3, 235 lbs (107 kg) Los Angeles Angels outfielder Jorge Soler to the ground.
According to sources, the fifth inning of what had been a simmering three-game series between the Braves and Angels unraveled in a matter of seconds. Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez had already surrendered a home run to Soler in the first inning.
When Soler stepped back into the batter’s box, Lopez plunked him with a pitch. Tensions held until the fifth, when a high, inside fastball ricocheted off catcher Jonah Heim’s glove. Soler took exception, locked eyes with Lopez on the mound, and charged.
Lopez, baseball still in hand, raised his fists as Soler closed the distance.
“I love Soler. We were teammates here,” Weiss said afterward. “But that’s a big man, and so I just felt I’ve gotta get him off his feet because he’s gonna hurt somebody. And so that was my instinct, just to get in there and get Jorge off his feet, yeah, because he was on a warpath.”
Weiss did exactly that, and the video clip spread rapidly across social media, prompting an obvious question: How does a 62-year-old man bring down someone standing more than six feet tall and weighing 235 lbs (107 kg) with such apparent ease?
The answer lies in decades of disciplined martial arts training.
After his playing career ended, sources state that Weiss pursued taekwondo with serious commitment, eventually earning a black belt. From there, his training evolved alongside the rapid rise of mixed martial arts in American culture.
In a 2016 interview with MMA Now, Weiss explained, “I trained when I was younger in the traditional arts, in taekwondo, and then I got into MMA about 15, 20 years ago when it first started.”
Jiu-jitsu became a foundation of his regimen, something he described not as a pastime but as a way of life. While coaching the Colorado Rockies in 2016, Weiss told MMA Now that his training includes “mixed martial arts, a lot of jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, and that type of training.”
He has also competed in cage matches at a martial arts gym, though never professionally. The UFC itself wasn’t founded until 1993, by which point Weiss was already 29 years old and playing for the Florida Marlins.
Those who shared a clubhouse with Weiss were already well aware of his physical capabilities long before Tuesday night. Hall of Fame third baseman Chipper Jones once remarked that Weiss could “tie anybody from their team up in a pretzel in 20 seconds,” calling him “one of those MMA guys.”
Tony La Russa, who managed Weiss early in his career, put it more bluntly. Upon learning of Weiss’s martial arts background, La Russa told the Society for American Baseball Research, “I knew he was tough, I didn’t know he was nuts.”
Weiss was a coach with the Braves in 2021, the year Soler helped deliver Atlanta a World Series title. The two men share a history that gives the whole scene an almost surreal quality. Lopez and Soler were even briefly teammates when the Braves reacquired Soler in 2024.
Following the incident, MLB moved quickly. Lopez and Soler were each handed seven-game suspensions by Michael Hill, the league’s senior vice president for on-field operations, along with undisclosed fines.
Both players filed appeals, which allowed them to remain active. Soler wasted no time taking advantage of that window, appearing in right field and batting fourth in Wednesday’s rubber match, where he launched his third home run of the season.
Both players addressed the incident through interpreters. Lopez maintained that the pitch was never intentional.
“It’s just a shame, the situation and how things unfolded,” he said. “On my part, there was never any intent to hit him at any point. So, again, it’s just a shame.”
Soler offered a different account, suggesting a brief exchange between the two provided the spark. “I asked him if everything was OK and the answer he gave me, I didn’t like it,” Soler said. “That’s why I went out there.”
