His manager defended Diaz's language — while using the same offensive slur — although the offensive tweet has since been deleted from Diaz’s timeline.
Diaz dropped the offensive remark in a Twitter message in which he took up for fellow fighter Pat Healy, who earlier this week was stripped of his win and $130,000 in bonus money for testing positive for marijuana at UFC 159 last month in Newark, N.J. That fight against Jim Miller will go down as a no contest.
“We are very disappointed by Nate Diaz’s comments, which are in no way reflective of our organization," the UFC said in a statement to FOXSports.com. "Nate is currently suspended pending internal investigation and we will provide further comment once the matter has been decided.”
On Friday, Zuffa, LLC, owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, released the following statement today:
"UFC lightweight Nate Diaz has received an immediate 90-day suspension and $20,000 fine for violating the UFC’s fighter code of conduct. The language used in his tweet was regrettable, offensive and inconsistent with the values and culture of the organization, and is not tolerated."
Mike Kogan, Diaz’s manager, told FOXSports.com that his client’s tweet wasn’t homophobic and was meant purely as an attack on Bryan Caraway, a fighter on the UFC 159 card who was awarded Healy’s Submission of the Night bonus worth $65,000. Diaz apparently took issue with Caraway’s lobbying on Twitter.
“Apologizing for what?” Kogan answered when asked if Diaz regretted the tweet. “He didn’t use that word in that sort of (homophobic) context. It’s a misunderstanding. If people are uneducated, that’s not my (expletive) fault. It’s slang for being a little b****. The guy goes on Twitter and chases (UFC president) Dana (White) down like a little f** instead of picking up the phone.”
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