Nate Diaz's defense outside the octagon apparently isn't as sharp as it is inside.
As UFC president Dana White promised, the UFC on Friday suspended the lightweight fighter for 90 days and fined him $20,000 for using a derogatory term for homosexual on his official Twitter account, fansided.com reported.
Diaz was responding to news that fellow lightweight Pat Healy had been docked $130,000 in bonus money after Healy tested positive for marijuana. Diaz sympathized with Healy while criticizing fellow fighter Brian Caraway, who received $65,000 of Healy's fine inseparate tweets.
The UFC released an official statement on the suspension:
"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 organization said. "The language used in his tweet was regrettable, offensive and inconsistent with the values and culture of the organization, and is not tolerated.
"The money will be donated to charity."
USA Today reported that Diaz's manager, Mike Kogan, backed his fighter's use of the term and refused to advise the fighter to delete the tweet. According to the story, Kogan 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.
"How people take it is beyond my control. But that's what his intent was. ... 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."
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