Hours after Diaz wrote a tweet that included a derogatory term for a homosexual on his official Twitter account, UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie.com the fighter would be fined and suspended – or possibly released from the promotion.
Late Thursday, UFC officials issued a statement confirming the suspension:
"We are very disappointed by Nate Diaz's comments, which are in no way reflective of our organization," the statement read. "Nate is currently suspended pending internal investigation, and we will provide further comment once the matter has been decided."
Diaz posted a pair of tweets Thursday in which he expressed sympathy for Pat Healy, who was docked $130,000 in bonus money after testing positive for marijuana, and criticized fighter Bryan Caraway, who got $65,000 of that money.
Earlier this year, the UFC instituted a formal code of conduct that bars fighters from using discriminatory or derogatory language. This past month, UFC suspended and fined heavyweight Matt Mitrione for an offensive rant about transgender fighter Fallon Fox, though the suspension lasted three weeks before he was booked for another fight.
Diaz's manager, Mike Kogan, defended Diaz's choice of words and did not advise the fighter to delete the tweet. He suggested Twitter followers look up the meaning of the word Diaz used in the Urban Dictionary.
"Nate voiced a personal opinion about an incident that took place involving Bryan Caraway in which he chased Dana all over Twitter to try to get a bonus, which was taken away from Pat Healy, got the bonus, and then had the nerve to go back out there and bash (Healy)," Kogan said.
Kogan contended that in Northern California, where Diaz is from, the gay slur used by Diaz means "you're a little punk."
"It has nothing to do with homosexuals at all," he said.
White has defended fighters such as Ronda Rousey for voicing controversial opinions but also has blasted fighters for not exercising common sense in using social media. In 2011, the UFC released bantamweight Miguel Torres for tweeting a joke making light of rape, though it later reinstated the fighter after he apologized.
Discussing Mitrione's suspension, White stressed that fighters were free to voice their opinion but were subject to the consequences of their choice of words.
"How people take it is beyond my control," said Kogan when asked whether fighters such as Diaz are held to a higher standard in their use of social media. "But that's what his intent was. And it was a (expletive) move, for the record. Pat Healy? It's not like Pat Healy is Georges St-Pierre and he could afford it. That was probably the most money he's ever made in his life. And because of something he did, I'm pretty sure way before the fight. ... It's not like he walked out into the cage with (expletive) weed in his mouth. He got fined. He doesn't need somebody else dwelling over it.
"I'm sure some people got offended, and hopefully this article will explain what his intent was. But how people view it is how people view it. I can't control that. His intent was not to make a derogatory term toward homosexuals."
0 comments:
Post a Comment