Nate Diaz On UFC Signing CM Punk: ‘F**k Him, F**k The Whole Situation’
The UFC’s signing of former WWE wrestler CM Punk has been very polarizing, not only among UFC fans, but among professional MMA fighters in every organization. UFC lightweight Nate Diaz is the latest to criticize his current employer for signing a WWE guy with no professional fighting experience.
Diaz, who is set to fight Rafael dos Anjos this Saturday night on Fox, was asked about the UFC’s decision to sign CM Punk in a pre-fight media scrum. Diaz responded to the question with a profanity-filled rant, and he called Punk an amateur.
“[CM Punk] might do great, but why does he get a chance? He’s an amateur. You’re going to put an amateur in there with pros? That makes us all amateurs, so I think it’s ridiculous. As far as I’m concerned, f**k him, f**k the whole situation. Anybody who takes that fight is tripping.”
Diaz added that UFC guys can’t just go over to WWE or any other sports organization without having to prove themselves first. It’s clear that Diaz understands that CM Punk is a huge star, but he just doesn’t like the fact that the UFC is bringing in someone who has no professional experience and giving him a featured fight while paying him a lot of money.
“If I want to, I can’t go play in the NBA, not even Stefan Struve’s big a**. He can’t go play in the NBA if he wants to because he feels like making a change. For a publicity thing? They wouldn’t pay him no money, and they wouldn’t even let him play. It’s ridiculous.”
“I don’t think you should just let some millionaire WWE guy just come on over and play a little game, like have fun with his career. I’m over here busting my a**, fighting for 10 years, doing my thing and having a serious job that I have to do for this. And [CM Punk] is going to come over and probably get paid more than everyone in the room.”
Nate Diaz wrapped up his rant by saying that the UFC signing CM Punk is a joke, and that it makes the sport look horrible.
“I’m sorry, but this guy’s making a joke out of my serious life and getting compensated more for it, I don’t mean no harm on [CM Punk], but I don’t think it’s right.”
There’s no question that CM Punk will bring a lot of eyes to the UFC product when he eventually makes his UFC debut. However, Nate Diaz just doesn’t care, and he’s not the only fighter who has that opinion.
[Image via Getty Images]
