Update: The Cause Of The Hendrickson V Rodrigues Fight

Earlier today Stab reported on a fight between Hawaii’s Tanner Hendrickson and Brazil’s Michael Rodrigues, which happened on the stairs in front of Pipeline.

According to Brazilian publication Mundial De Surfe, “Michael suffered a heavy blow to the head, but it is fine.”

The WSL has kicked Hendrickson out of the Pipe Trials for his actions, which as seen in the video above, include knocking an acai bowl from Rodrigues’ hand and proceeding to beat him up.

While the video shows Tanner as the clear aggressor, Stab has gleaned new intel that may paint a different story.

Stab just got off the phone with a Portuguese translator, who helped us understand the context of the video. Below is the transcription of the Portuguese parts. Keep in mind, there are lots of people talking so some of it gets lost in the mix. But these are the most distinguishable parts.

Camera guy says: “Hey man come with us, will give us some viewers…”

Another guy says: “No dude he is cruising, he wants to relax and chill.”

Camera guy says: “We have a comedy show here with Michael Rodrigues.”

Michael Rodrigues says: “I wanna know if you guys are ready?”

Camera guy says: “Why?”

Michael Rodrigues says: “I am kidding.”

Another guy says: “To keep up with him cause he never stops, that’s why he fights, fought with the guys in Rio, talked shit about some guys in Rio…and the guys got all pissed off, of so much messing around, they guys don’t get that he never stops.” (Ed. note: after carefully reviewing this, our translator believed this person was talking about Michael getting in a fight in Rio, but they can’t be sure.)

Then the fight starts, they all back up…

Camera guy says: “Holy Crap…  What is going on? how do I turn this camera off?”

After gaining this intel, we reached back out to Tanner to see if he might have been correct in his earlier assertion that, “And the thing is, he knew it was being filmed. I had no idea. So he instigated this while walking up the stairs, knowing it would set me off. I feel like he played me and got the better of me.”

We would soon find out that Tanner’s claim of M-Rod “shoulder bumping” him prior to the fight (which can be clearly disproven by watching the video) had been initially misconstrued, as Tanner explains that it happened prior to the incident on the stairs. We’ll let Tanner explain the rest.

Stab: Hey Tanner, we just got off the phone with a translator who helped us understand the context of the video. From what she relayed, the video crew was alluding to a potential situation with M-Rod and were encouraging him to “come with them” for the sake of views. While we can’t be sure, it does sound like they might have been preemptively aware that your encounter with M-Rod was about to happen. But how would they have known?

Tanner Hendrickson: Bra, that’s what I was saying before. That whole thing with the shoulder bump and him saying “Do what you’re gonna do” happened before our encounter in the video. I was just parking my car to go surfing, and I usually just walk down past the Volcom house to change and get ready. So I was walking there and as I was getting into the beach path I ran into Michael, and that’s where he gave me this stupid look and a wink, and I was just like, “Really man, we’ve still got trouble?” That’s when he was like “We can do whatever you wanna do,” and gave me this shoulder nudge. All of that was before they went down to the beach. 

Ohhh, we didn’t understand that. Ok…

Yeah, so he shoulder nudged me and I was just like, “Are you kidding me bra?” Basically I was like, “If you look at me, say anything to me again, just consider it on and we’re fucking scrapping right now. I’m fucking tired of this bra. I tried to mediate it with you before, I tried to squash it with you before, and all you tell me is ‘Fuck you.’ So the next time you look at me the wrong way or say something stupid to me, we’re fucking squashing it and we’re gonna scrap.

You said this to him?

Yeah I said that to him, and that’s when he went down to the beach. Then when he was coming back up the stairs [the part we see in the video], he looks up at me and says, “What?”, and that’s why I slapped the açaí bowl out of his hand. 

So you think that they could have been talking about you on the beach, and that the whole thing was premeditated. 

That’s the only reason I’m thinking they were even filming when he was coming up the stairs. I mean there’s nothing interesting about that. They knew something was happening. And you can tell the guy in front gets out of the way because he knows something is gonna happen. 

All the dots are connecting.

That’s what I mean. That’s what I’m pissed off about. It is what it is. I don’t wanna get myself in any more trouble. I just want this to be over. 

***

So, is it possible that after the initial altercation between Tanner Hendrickson and Michael Rodrigues, wherein Michael “shoulder bumped” Tanner and Tanner responded with a strongly-worded warning, that Michael went down to the beach at Pipeline and told the Canal Off crew about the Tanner situation, which they then goaded him into re-initiating for the sake of  “viewers”?

Keep in mind, once the video was live, the crew immediately headed up the stairs where the initial Tanner confrontation occurred. Also to Tanner’s point, the guy who went up the stairs first stopped as soon as he saw what/who was on top of them, and allowed Michael to pass by first.

Once the fight started, the filmer, who has been unofficially ID’d as Brazilian ex-professional surfer Gabriel Pastori, backed away and proceeded to turn the live feed off.

Pastori, like Michael Rodrigues, was reached for contact but at time of publishing has not responded.

Please keep in mind, we are not making any concrete claims against Canal Off, only pointing out new evidence that leads to a potentially different conclusion of the situation.

We sincerely hope to hear from the involved Brazilian parties, so that they can share their side of the story.