In a recent interview, UFC Lightweight Nate Diaz was as candid as I have ever heard him. He said many things that were over the top, and many things I do not agree with, but I had never heard him as relatable as he was during that conversation. It was so fascinating that it prompted me to tweet his manager to encourage him to do more of them.
However, Diaz’s recent comments on Twitter – while not the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen in cyberspace – are probably in my top ten. For those that don’t know, Diaz insulted Bryan Caraway for ending up with the bonus money that would have gone to Pat Healy had he not tested positive for marijuana after his UFC 159 bout with Jim Miller. While it’s easy to understand his support, the problem with Diaz’s reaction is that he chose to call Caraway “the biggest fag in the world.”
Diaz’s disciplinary problems started as an unlicensed cornerman at the famous “Strikeforce Brawl” in Nashville when he decided to jump into the foray in the cage that night. For his actions, Diaz was suspended for three months and was fined $7,500. This would be the first bad decision Diaz would make in a long line of them.
With the new UFC Code of Conduct policy now firmly in place, the hammer came down hard and fast. As soon as UFC President Dana White heard of the post, he vowed action from the UFC, and before the story was six hours old, the UFC had issued a statement and suspended Diaz indefinitely. As I write this, the post is twenty hours old and Diaz has not apologized nor even deleted the tweet. As if things weren’t ugly enough, his manager isn’t doing his client any favors.
Diaz representative Mike Kogan vehemently defended his client, and tried (and failed miserably) to rationalize the unfortunate choice of words from his fighter. Kogan, who obviously doesn’t understand that you don’t get to decide how people take the things you say, basically said by calling him that, he meant Caraway was “a punk, or a bitch.” Does this sound shocking to you? How could the guy who manages such high-profile athletes like Royce Gracie, Roy Nelson and Mo Lawal choose his words so poorly? The answer is because that’s what Kogan does.
Not only was I not shocked by Kogan’s comments, I expected them. A while back Kogan wrote an article and he chose to use the term “house niggas” when referring to Quinton Jackson and Jon Jones. While explaining that the racism among MMA fans bothered him, Kogan would go on to say the most ignorant things I have ever heard from a manager.
That’s why Rampage and Jon Jones are so popular. They are “house niggas”, they are for the white folk, you know what I mean? I’m not trying to put down black folk, but if you sit down and listen to Jon Jones, ain’t no black folk saying that shit man, come on. The last person that said that shit is Barack Obama, and that nigga the President, so of course he gonna say that shit- Mike Kogan (link)
What does this have to do with Diaz? Diaz decided that this was the man who should represent him professionally. Kogan isn’t even telling the fighter to delete the tweet. In this case, Kogan does not have his client’s interest ahead of his. Any smart manager would go into damage-control mode and put together a multi-step plan that included apologies, communicating to the UFC that they would accept any and all punishments, and that they would do all they could to undo the damage done. Part of a good manager’s job is to protect their client 365 days a year, and yes they need to protect them from themselves.
If the UFC was going to make an example out of someone since implementing their code of conduct policy, can you imagine a better candidate than Diaz? Diaz has a tremendous amount of abilities as a fighter that I predict will one day outshine his brothers, but it really seems like he is hellbent on squandering them. Diaz’s decision-making GPS seems to be set on Bellator or WSOF.
Photo Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
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