Controversy reared its ugly head last week when Diaz announced that he was off the card due to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The bout is still on the card, but Diaz says that he didn’t care if the card was ruined because the Stockton native’s legacy was of a higher importance to the fighter.
“I wasn’t happy about any of it actually. I think that it was all a big old bunch of (expletive),” Diaz said on the UFC 244 conference call (via Nolan King of MMA Junkie). “I just wanted to not be a part of the big old (expletive) secret. I think the thing about people on steroids is people on steroids don’t talk about steroids out loud. I don’t care if it ruins your show. You ain’t ruining my whole legacy. All I believe in the whole game is that I’m all natural. If we were cavemen, I’d be the hardest caveman out there.”
Not only has both the UFC and USADA cleared Diaz for UFC 244, but the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) has cleared him for the bout as well.
Masvidal admits that a lot of anxiety overtook him when the news about Diaz initially came out.
“That was (expletive) nuts, you know?” Masvidal said. “I was like, ‘What the (expletive)? Nah, that’s Photoshopped.’ I digged a little harder, and it wasn’t Photoshopped. A little bit of anxiety came. Not anixety in the sense I thought Nate was a cheater, because I never thought he was a cheater. Just the uncertainty like, ‘They might pull my fight because of some lab screw-up? Because of some weirdass (expletive)?’ I don’t want to diss on USADA, either, because I think they’ve cleaned up a lot of the sport, but it’s not 100 percent right yet. By Day No. 2, anxiety hit. About two pizzas later and hot fries and other things I shouldn’t have put in my body, the coaching staff got a hold of me to calm the anxiety down. We went about business. When I get anxiety and depression and things like that, I take to eating.”
UFC 244 takes place on Saturday, November 2 from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York with Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
