Nate Diaz Just Called Strickland and Chimaev "Fake F***ing Puppets"

Nate Diaz watched the same UFC 328 fight week we all watched. The gun threats. The "third world dog" comments. The hotel lobby confrontations. Chimaev kicking Strickland at the press conference. Security rushing the stage. Dana White calling it the "#2 worst case of bad blood ever."

Then the fight happened. Strickland won. And within minutes of the final bell, the two guys who spent a week threatening to kill each other were hugging in the middle of the Octagon. Chimaev wrapped the belt around Strickland's waist. Strickland grabbed the mic and apologized to fans of "all nations, creeds and religions" for the things he said during the buildup. He literally told the world it was all to sell the fight.

And Nate Diaz said what he says.

"They were faking the funk. Fake f***ing puppets."

What Nate Actually Said

During a Face 2 Face segment with Mike Perry on MVP's YouTube channel ahead of their Netflix fight this Saturday, Perry asked Diaz what he thought about the Strickland vs Chimaev buildup. Diaz did not hold back.

"They were faking the funk, and they were fing acting like crazy and talking all this sht to each other and then hugging and fing showing love the whole fight like some bhes. Fake fing puppets. I'm f*ing cool off that s**t."

Then he separated himself and Perry from the whole thing.

"I was already OK with him. We're not fing friends or anything like that, but I'm not gonna fing play around and make no fake, artificial beef with you. I think you're great. I think what you're doing is great. I think you're violent as fk. I came here to fight, train hard, win and fk your st up, just like I know you're planning on f*ing my s**t up. And I'm not gonna put no artificial beef out there."

Then the closer: "I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I was sitting there and bulls***ting everybody."

That's Nate Diaz in one quote. No filter. No performance. Just a dude from Stockton who thinks manufactured drama is beneath him and isn't afraid to say it four days before his own fight.

The Timeline Nobody Can Explain

Here's what makes the whole thing so hard to defend if you're Strickland OR Chimaev.

We wrote about the beef a week ago. The gun threats were real enough that Chael Sonnen went on Ariel Helwani's show and said the comment "took some of the fun out of it." Ariel was publicly worried the UFC might have to cancel the event. The promotion put the fighters in separate hotels. Security was beefed up for the face-offs. Chimaev physically kicked Strickland during the press conference faceoff. Strickland called Chimaev a "third world dog" and said he'd shoot him and his team if they "tried anything."

Dana White stood in front of cameras and called it "#2 on the all time bad blood list." Number two. Behind only Conor and Khabib. The CEO of the promotion co-signed the beef as one of the most intense in UFC history.

Then the fight ended and everything evaporated. Strickland apologized. Chimaev put the belt on him. They embraced. Strickland admitted he was selling the fight. And suddenly the "#2 worst case of bad blood ever" looked like two guys who'd agreed to do a WWE angle for three weeks and then drop character the second the cameras switched off.

Ariel Helwani said it best during the Face 2 Face segment with Diaz and Perry. "You win that fight and tell the world that was all for show, that was all for promotion?"

Yeah. That's exactly what happened.

Why This Matters Beyond Just Being Annoying

Look, fighters selling fights is not new. Conor McGregor built an empire on trash talk. Colby Covington invented a whole persona to avoid getting cut. Chael Sonnen talked his way into two title shots he probably didn't deserve on record alone. Selling fights is part of the business and always has been.

But there's a difference between being entertaining and being dishonest. McGregor was entertaining. You could argue he believed every word he said. Chael knew it was an act and he was so good at it that nobody cared. Colby's act is transparent but he commits to it 24/7 so at least it's consistent.

Strickland and Chimaev did something different. They crossed lines that aren't supposed to be crossed. Religion, family, divorce, gun threats. They made it so personal and so ugly that fans, media, and even other fighters genuinely believed somebody was going to get hurt before the fight even started. And then the second it was over, they dropped the whole thing like it was a costume.

That's not selling a fight. That's manipulating the audience.

The Diaz vs Perry Contrast

Here's what makes Nate's rant land even harder. He's fighting Mike Perry on Saturday. Perry is one of the most violent humans in combat sports. He knocked out Luke Rockhold. He knocked out Jeremy Stephens. He was BKFC's King of Violence. The man is genuinely dangerous.

And Diaz's approach to promoting the fight is the complete opposite of what Strickland and Chimaev did. No fake threats. No manufactured drama. No pretending they hate each other when they don't. Just two fighters who respect each other's violence and are going to try to take each other's heads off on Saturday night because that's the job.

"I think you're great. I think what you're doing is great. I think you're violent as f**k. I came here to fight."

That's it. That's the whole promo. And it's more compelling than three weeks of fake gun threats because you believe every word of it.

Nate Diaz has always been this way. When he fought Conor McGregor, the beef was real because both guys genuinely wanted to prove something. When he fought Jorge Masvidal, the respect was real because both guys acknowledged each other's careers. When he fought Leon Edwards, the animosity was real because Leon talked down to him. Diaz does not manufacture emotions. He shows up, says what he thinks, fights how he fights, and goes home.

He called the Netflix card "a card full of free fighters" at the New York press conference. He wasn't lying about that either. Every fighter on Saturday's card left the UFC. And the way they're promoting it, with real respect between opponents instead of fake death threats, is starting to look like a better model than what the UFC just sold the world at UFC 328.

The Bigger Question

Here's what I keep sitting with. If the UFC's own CEO is co-signing fake beefs as "#2 on the all time bad blood list," what does that tell you about how the promotion views its audience?

It tells you they think we'll buy anything as long as the buildup is loud enough. And for a week, most of us did. We wrote about the gun threats like they were real. We analyzed the security measures. We debated whether the fight might get cancelled. The whole MMA media ecosystem took the bait because Strickland and Chimaev committed to the bit so hard that questioning it felt like being naive.

Then the mask came off in the Octagon and Nate Diaz said what the rest of us were too slow to say.

"They were faking the funk."

Four days before his own fight. On his own promotion's YouTube channel. Looking directly at Mike Perry while explaining exactly why their fight on Saturday is going to be different.

Whether Diaz vs Perry is a better fight than Strickland vs Chimaev remains to be seen. But at least when Nate walks to the cage on Saturday night, the look on his face is going to be real. The respect between him and Perry is going to be real. And when one of them gets hit, the violence is going to be real.

That's worth something in a sport where apparently we can't even trust the trash talk anymore.

Thanks for riding with CageLore. Stay locked in!

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Nate Diaz say about Strickland and Chimaev?

During a Face 2 Face segment with Mike Perry on MVP's YouTube channel, Diaz called Strickland and Chimaev "fake f***ing puppets" for manufacturing their pre-fight beef and then hugging in the Octagon after the fight. He said he "wouldn't be able to sleep at night" if he were faking beef to sell a fight.

Did Strickland admit the beef was fake?

After winning the split decision at UFC 328, Strickland apologized to fans of "all nations, creeds and religions" for his comments during fight week and acknowledged he was trying to sell the fight. Chimaev also showed immediate sportsmanship by wrapping the belt around Strickland.

What did Ariel Helwani say about it?

During the Face 2 Face segment, Helwani questioned the situation directly: "You win that fight and tell the world that was all for show, that was all for promotion?" He expressed disappointment at the revelation that the intense buildup may have been manufactured.

What did Dana White call the Strickland vs Chimaev beef?

During fight week, White called it the "#2 worst case of bad blood ever" in UFC history, ranking it behind only the Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov rivalry.

When is Nate Diaz vs Mike Perry?

Diaz fights Perry in the co-main event of MVP MMA 1 on Saturday, May 16, 2026 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. The event streams live on Netflix starting at 8 PM ET.