Nate Diaz Suspended Pending Internal Investigation for Use of Homophobic Slur on Twitter

Nate Diaz on Thursday was suspended by UFC officials for his use of a homophobic slur on Twitter.

Diaz was defending Pat Healy, who was recently stripped of $130,000 in bonus money after testing positive for marijuana, a banned substance, following his UFC 159 victory over Jim Miller.

The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board also suspended Healy for 90 days and changed the result of the fight to a no contest.

Aside from standing up for Healy, Diaz was taking a shot at Bryan Caraway, a fighter that lobbied UFC president Dana White for and was awarded the $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus that was one of the two bonuses stripped from Healy.

Diaz, however, used a homophobic slur in his attack on Caraway, which the UFC is now investigating as a possible violation of its code of conduct.

“We are very disappointed by Nate Diaz’s comments, which are in no way reflective of our organization,” read a UFC statement addressing the situation. “Nate is currently suspended pending internal investigation and we will provide further comment once the matter has been decided.”

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 ..

— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) May 16, 2013

Diaz’s manager, Mike Kogan, defended his fighter to FoxSports.com, saying that Diaz never intended to use the slur as such, nor did he mean to offend anyone.

“He didn’t use that word in that sort of (homophobic) context,” said Kogan. “It’s a misunderstanding. If people are uneducated, that’s not my (expletive) fault. It’s slang for being a little (expletive). (Caraway) goes on Twitter and chases (UFC president) Dana (White) down like a little (expletive) instead of picking up the phone.”

The most recent example of a fighter flying in the face of the UFC’s code of conduct policy was Matt Mitrione, who came under fire after his rant about transgender fighter Fallon Fox.

Mitrione was suspended for roughly three weeks for an investigation into the matter. Ultimately, he was fined an undisclosed amount and the suspension lifted.