Nate Diaz Gets 90-Day Suspension, $20K Fine From the UFC. Let the Healing Begin.

Nate Diaz has been given a 90-day suspension and fined $20,000 by the UFC for a derogatory tweet earlier this week where he called fellow fighter Bryan Caraway “the biggest fag in the world.” Apparently, the UFC did not take Diaz’s manager Mike Kogan’s advice to “calm the fuck down and educate” themselves by reading Urban Dictionary. Shocking, I know.

So what does this fine and suspension mean? Well, the suspension means nothing. As MMA Junkie points out, Diaz will be eligible to fight by August 15th when FOX Sports 1 kicks off its programming with a UFC card. Having just fought in April, a 4-month layoff between fights is not unheard of. In fact, it’s pretty standard. The UFC suspending a fighter 90-days is the equivalent of Major League Baseball suspending a pitcher 4 games the morning after he started a game and threw 8-innings.

The fine is a bit more serious. Diaz made just $15,000 in his loss to Josh Thomson last month. I was shocked to see how little Diaz – who had fought 17 times in the UFC before that bout – made for his fight against Thomson. In December he made $50,000 to lose to Benson Henderson. The two fights before that he cleared an estimated $165k (Jim Miller, W, $50k show, $50k win, $65k Sub of the Night) and $149k ($37k show, $37k win, $75k Fight of the Night).

In the grand scheme of things, assuming Nate Diaz has been taking care of his money, the $20k fine shouldn’t be manageable. And hey, if his management team does half as good a job taking care of his money as they do making sure that people know it is OK to call someone a fag as long as you mean bitch, why worry?

So now Diaz and the UFC can move on. Diaz has deleted the Tweet that was misinterpreted and I’m sure they are working on a professional statement as I type. Lessons have been learned, I’m sure. Oh, look. Nate Diaz has a new tweet. Maybe this will help to mend the fence.

Well, there you go. And I’m sure Diaz’s manager has seen the light as well.

It is definitely 2013. No one can argue that. Looks like Urban Dictionary wins again.