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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"The UFC is a friend and ally of the LGBT community, and expects and requires all 450 of its athletes to treat others with dignity and respect."
-UFC statement in response to Matt Mitrione's comments about transgender fighter Fallon Fox
The UFC has tried hard over the last several years to change their image towards the LGBT community after several incidents of UFC fighters or personalities dropping homophobic slurs. It reached a head with UFC President Dana White, who made some during a vitriolic video blog towards Loretta Hunt regarding a story she had written. White apologized for his homophobic remarks at the time, and the UFC has continued trying to prove themselves beyond those types of statements.
Unfortunately, the nature of the testosterone-addled sport means that there are a lot of fighters with a different mindset from what the UFC would like to see, leading to incidents like what came out on Thursday afternoon from Nate Diaz.
Reacting to Pat Healy's drug test failure for marijuana, and the comments about the drug by Bryan Caraway, who ultimately got Healy's "Submission of the Night" bonus, Diaz made the following comments on Twitter (screen cap at the end if Tweets get deleted):
I feel bad for pat Healy that they took a innocent mans money and I think the guy who took the money is the biggest Fag in the world ..
As this comment was made just a bit ago, the UFC hasn't yet responded, but he's likely going to be hit with some type of punishment under the UFC's code of conduct.
Penick's Analysis: I don't think anyone's going to be surprised that one of the Diaz brothers dropped that word in a public forum. It's ridiculous and stupid, and will be met with some type of reaction from the UFC, but it's not surprising. Much of the world has grown up beyond slinging phrases like that around, but clearly it's still very much a part of the vernacular of some. It's highly disappointing to see, and completely unnecessary, but again, it's not the least bit surprising out of Diaz. The two brothers continue to dig themselves holes with comments outside of the cage, and there's going to be some punishment coming for this one. As there should be. These are the types of things the Las Vegas Culinary Union and activist groups continue to grab onto in order to argue against the sport's continued expansion. Diaz's mindset is a culture the UFC can't support and can't tolerate, and they're not likely to here in the near future.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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