Nate Diaz is not happy about how the Sean Strickland vs. Khamzat Chimaev fight was sold to the public. In fact, the former UFC star is disgusted by the fake beef, trash talk, and altercations the pair stirred up before the bout. So, during his MVP Face 2 Face segment with Mike Perry for their upcoming fight on Netflix, ‘The Stockton Slugger’ called out Strickland and Chimaev for what he sees as pure deception.

“They were faking the funk, and they were f—king acting like crazy and talking all this s—t to each other and hugging and f—king showing them the whole fight like some b—ch,” Nate Diaz said. “Fake f—king puppets. I’m f—king cool off that s—t… We’re not f—king friends or anything like that, but I’m not gonna f—king play around and make no fake artificial beef with you… 

“Okay? … I’m not here for a sit-down f—king pow wow. I’m not trying to kumbaya or none of that s—t… Hugging and f—king shaking hands right off the bat the whole time. It’s f—king like you did bulls—t to me. I ain’t bulls—tting nobody, I keep it real all the way through… That was f—king bulls—tted to us. You don’t gotta bulls—t me, I’m gonna watch… 

“F—k him still… I don’t even lose [any] sleep over it. I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I [were] sitting there bulls—ting everybody… Gotta be proud regardless.”

In the lead-up to the Chimaev vs. Strickland title fight, the Chechen native had threatened to jump ‘Tarzan.’ And the latter responded by threatening to shoot him and his team. On the UFC’s part, they had beefed up the security for the face-off and kept the fighters in separate hotels. And even then, during their face-off, Chimaev ended up kicking Strickland on the shin. 

Security personnel and armed officers had to get involved to stop things from escalating further. On fight night, however, the fighters appeared to be much more civil and waited for their fight inside the octagon. Strickland, of course, ended up causing an upset by beating Chimaev via split decision. However, he admitted that he had put on a show to entertain fans. 

But what’s interesting is that UFC CEO Dana White leaned completely into the manufactured beef between Chimaev and Strickland. 

Dana White claimed the beef between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland is only overshadowed by two others

Dana White believes the rivalry between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland is among the most intense feuds in UFC history. However, he says two rivalries still rank higher. After the face-off chaos for UFC 328, White revealed what he thought about their beef. 

“This is one of the worst cases of bad blood ever,” White said. “I put it No. 2 on the all-time list.”

The UFC CEO gave the No. 1 spot to the rivalry between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. 

“Conor-Khabib No. 1. And the only reason Conor-Khabib is No. 1 is Brooklyn, and then what happened after the fight. … We made some mistakes, obviously, leading up to that fight and after that fight. And we won’t do that again.”

Those aren’t the only big feuds in UFC, though. So when reminded about Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier, Dana White quickly downgraded Strickland and Chimaev to No. 3. 

“Actually, you’re right. … That’s probably No. 2. I forgot there was a fist fight in the lobby of the MGM while people were checking into their hotel. I would put [Chimaev vs. Strickland] at 3.”

But now that it has been revealed that the entire beef was manufactured, it would be interesting to learn where Dana White puts their rivalry. After all, Khabib-McGregor and Jones-Cormier literally hated each other. 

That being said, this shows the mentality Nate Diaz carries into his fights. He would rather entertain fans with violence instead of talking trash throughout the lead-up. But what did you make of Chimaev and Strickland’s beef?