Diaz fined $20k and suspended for 90 days for twitter outburst

UFC waste no time in reacting to twitter outburst

by Tommy Strong @Strong_tea

Hardly a week goes by without one of the Diaz brothers making the headlines. This time its the turn of the younger brother Nate, who finds himself in deep water with the UFC after tweeting a controversial comment towards Bryan Caraway. This was following the news that Pat Healy failed a post fight drugs test where he had tested positive for Marijuana after his UFC 159 fight win over Jim Miller.

Healy defeated Miller via submission and ended up taking home the 'fight of the night' and 'submission of the night' bonuses. For doing this Healy picked up a whopping $130k in bonus money.

However, Healy's reckless decision and subsequent failed drugs test not only cost him his win which now goes in to the record books as a no contest it has also cost him his $130k in bonuses. On top of this he has been hit with a 90 day suspension. This turn of events is what lead to Brain Caraway being awarded the 'submission of the night' bonus instead after submitting Johnny Bedford earlier in the night.

Nate obviously annoyed with the news, took to twitter on Thursday to express his opinions on the matter.

"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.."

UFC president Dana White was very unhappy with Nate's comments, and responded by saying that he will either fine, suspend or cut the fighter for his twitter outburst.

The UFC wasted no time dishing out punishment for his comments and released this statement:

“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 UFC announced in a statement. “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.”

Something tells me, this won't be the end of the matter!!

Dana White and Fallon Fox respond to Matt Mitrione's suspension

Dana White and Fallon Fox comment on the events which led to Matt Mitrione's suspension from the UFC

by Ben Heather @benheather

The big story yesterday was the news that Matt Mitrione let rip with an outburst of abuse directed at Fallon Fox on The MMA Hour, which ultimately led to him being suspended by the UFC for breaching its new code of conduct. Today both Dana White and Fallon Fox commented on the situation.

Dana White touched on the subject during a UFC on Fox 7 media conference call and was puzzled as to how the situation even arose. White struggled to see why Mitrione was even doing the interview in the first place as he had fought and as White put it interviews should only be done in the lead up to a fight.

Dana's full comment can be found below.

"It's one of those thing, it's just a pain in the ass. You know what I mean? First of all, he didn't even need to be doing an interview. And I'm going to talk to these guys. The only time these guys need to be doing interviews is leading up to fights. It ended up being a nightmare for him.

What was the point of that interview? There's no point in it. Now it's causing him a bunch of headaches and problems for no reason whatsoever. He just fought and he wouldn't fight again for another few months. And he is still over there enjoying himself in Sweden. What was the point of doing that interview? What was the upside to that interview? There was none. No upside."

As you can see this incident may now lead to a change in how and more importantly when interviews with UFC fighters take place as Dana said he will "talk to these guys" and was certainly not happen that this happened.

Although Mitrione is not the first UFC fighter to make offensive comments, either on twitter/ Facebook or in interviews I believe he is the first to breach the new code of conduct which the UFC expects all fighters to stick to.

 Fallon Fox however was contacted by Ariel Helwani, who was interviewing Mitrione when he made the comments on The MMA Hour. Although Fox did not say much she thinks that Mitrione personally attacked her, not just as a fighter but as a woman and a human being.

Fox's statement can be found in full below

"Matt Mitrione went well beyond disagreeing with the medical experts who say I should be able to compete as a woman, and personally attacked me as a fighter, as a woman, and as a human being.

"His comments do not reflect the spirit of our sport, where most competitors uphold values like respect and dignity."

For more on this subject which i believe will stick around for some time, as well as all the latest news from the world of MMA keep checking  www.KingdomMMA.co.uk.

UFC suspends Matt Mitrione for comments about Fallon Fox

Mitrione suspended for abusing Fallon Fox on the MMA Hour

by Ben Heather @benheather

Matt Mitrione the UFC heavyweight who got back to winning ways at UFC on FUEL TV 9 in Sweden on Saturday night when he knocked out Phil De Fries in 19 seconds let rip on Mondays episode of The MMA Hour.

Mitrione chose his interview with Ariel Helwani as his time to open up on his feelings about the transgender fighter Fallon Fox.  Mitrione started with what he called jokes but then that let to full on abuse when Ariel Helwani asked him what he had against Fox, below is a quote of what Mitrione said.

"Because she's not a he. He's a he. He's chromosomally a man. He had a gender change, not a sex change. He's still a man. He was a man for 31 years. That's a couple years younger than I am. He's a man. Six years of taking performance de-hancing drugs, you think is going to change all that? That's ridiculous.

"That is a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak. And I mean that. Because you lied on your license to beat up women. That's disgusting. You should be embarrassed yourself. And the fact that Florida licensed him because California licensed him or whoever the hell did it, it's an embarrassment to us as fighters, as a sport, and we all should protest that. The woman that's fighting him, props to you. I hope you beat his ass, and I hope he gets blackballed and never fights again, because that's disgusting and I'm appalled by that."

After these comments it didn't take long for the UFC to react and on Monday night they released a statement which said that Mitrione had been suspended for violation of the company's code of conduct. That statement can be found below.

"The UFC was appalled by the transphobic comments made by heavyweight Matt Mitrione today in an interview on 'The MMA Hour.' The organization finds Mr. Mitrione’s comments offensive and wholly unacceptable and - as a direct result of this significant breach of the UFC’s code of conduct – Mr. Mitrione’s UFC contract has been suspended and the incident is being investigated. 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." 

At the time of writing this no comment has been made as to how long Matt Mitrione will be suspended by the UFC.

Keep checking www.KingdomMMA.co.uk for the latest news on this story as well as all the latest news from the world of MMA.

Update on UFC on Fuel TV 8 Failed Drug Tests

Fighters respond to the news of failed drug tests at UFC on Fuel TV 8

by Ben Heather @benheather

Following the news released yesterday that both Alex Caceres and Riki Fukuda both failed drug tests at UFC on Fuel TV 8 both fighters have released statements.

Riki Fukuda who has been cut for his failed drug test by the UFC has responded by apologising on twitter and saying that an over the counter cold medication prompted his failed test for banned stimulants. The japanese fighter said that he took the medicine a few weeks before the fight and forgot to disclose this in his pre fight medical.

Alex Caceres also released a statement in which he said he takes full responsibilty for his failed drug test which has led to him receiving a six month suspension from fighting. Caceres also must undergo a drug rehabilitation and pass a drug test before he will be cleared to fight again.

Alex Caceres released the following statement to MMA Junkie.

"I accept full responsibility for my actions and the consequences from those actions. I apologise to all that I have disappointed, including the UFC, my family, coaches, training partners and fans. I accept the sanctions from the UFC and I look forward to completing the necessary steps to getting back in the octagon following the suspension and assuring that this never happens again"

Keep checking KingdomMMA for all of the latest news from the world of MMA.

Another failed drugs test on UFC on Fuel TV 8

UFC has suspended Alex Caceres after failed drugs test at UFC on Fuel TV 8

by Ben Heather @benheather

Alex "Bruce Leeroy" Caceres (8-5 MMA 2-3 UFC) has been suspended by the UFC for failing his drug test at UFC on Fuel TV 8.

UFC officials today announced that Caceres failed the drugs test due to traces of marijuana metabolites in his sample. With the lack of a governing body in place UFC officials oversaw the drug testing for the event in Japan.

Caceres has been suspended for six months and also ordered to attend drug rehabilitation classes and will need to pass a drug test before he's allowed to continue his career.

At the event in Japan Caceres earned a split decision win over Kyung Ho Kang, which marked the third straight win for Caceres. This result however has now been changed to a no contest.