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MMA

27th Aug 2018

Nate Diaz and Bruce Buffer have struck up a very bizarre rivalry

Maybe just maybe there's a reason for this

Ben Kiely

This Nate Diaz-Bruce Buffer beef is either genius promoting or another odd chapter in the fascinating career of the Stockton native.

Nate Diaz has a problem with Bruce Buffer. Well, Diaz has a problem with just about everyone, but recently, he has vocalised his issues with the veteran voice of the Octagon.

Only a few hours after his UFC 230 co-main event against Dustin Poirier was announced, Diaz was feuding with ‘the man’ again. After showing up late to the press conference promoting the bout, Diaz left early. He stormed out of the presser once the promo for UFC 229’s headliner was shown on the big screen. A little later, he sent a tweet claiming that he wasn’t fighting on the event. He closed off with a classic, ‘fuk (sic) the UFC’.

Then Buffer decided to prod the bear in a doorstep interview with TMZ.

“Nate Diaz, I love Nate, but he’s always got a bad taste in his mouth.”

‘Bow down’

Buffer then addressed Diaz’s constant complaints of being under-promoted. The Octagon announcer has had enough of Diaz airing his grievances on the subject matter. Especially because of the huge payday he earned for his rematch against Conor McGregor.

“Nate, I heard you made $7 million or more on your last fight. I don’t want to hear you complaining about being under-promoted by the UFC. You should be thanking the UFC and bowing to Dana White every time you see him. Ari Emanuel, Patrick Whitesell. You’ve got $7 million gross before taxes, maybe much more which I love knowing that you have, Nate. Please, I don’t want to hear any complaints.”

As you can imagine, Diaz didn’t take too kindly to these comments. Through Twitter, he told Buffer to ‘get off the UFC nuts’ before declaring that he bows down to ‘no one ever,’ regardless of how full his pockets are.

Holy shit! Diaz vs Buffer? Who saw that coming?

Now, this is classic Diaz behaviour, but considering how the UFC have been constantly criticised for not promoting Diaz correctly, perhaps this is all part of the promotional dance? Part of the cult of the Diaz brothers is this notion that they are oppressed by ‘the man’. Maybe, just maybe, the promotion is finally trying to use this anti-establishment trait to their own advantage.

Or maybe it’s just Diaz being Diaz.