You said that there were 3 toms and 6 jakes. Remember that out of the 3 toms, only one was dominant. If those three came into your set and you took the dominant bird and then sat still, chances are that , if the other two stuck around, they would attack the dead dominant bird to try to esatblish their new dominance. They show no loyalty in that regard. While subordinate birds may run with him, the dominant tom fights alone. They just generally go where he goes.

The jakes, on the other hand are like that streetgang of teenagers mentioned above. They WILL fight together. So, it looks like the dominant bird led 2 subordinate birds to your set only to find a gang of jakes waiting for him. He wanted no part of a 6 on 1 fight, so he left and the other 2 went with him. It wasn't shaping up to be a rumble -- it was a masacre and he knew it.

...would have been fun to watch, though.