41-year-old former UFC lightweight title challenger Nate Diaz has criticized the trash talk between fellow American Sean Strickland and UAE’s Khamzat Chimaev ahead of their bout at UFC 328. Notably, after the fight, Strickland apologized to Chimaev for his trash talk, retracting all his previous statements.
Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland at UFC 328 in Newark, USA, ended with Strickland winning by split decision, claiming the UFC middleweight championship and stripping Chimaev of the title.
“Yeah, they just put on a show. Acted like crazy people, slinging mud at each other, then spent the whole fight hugging and showing love. Fake puppets. I don’t care about any of that at all. I saw highlights of the Chimaev-Strickland fight — they were, damn it, hugging and shaking hands almost from the start. And all that time, it felt like you were just feeding me some nonsense. I never deceived anyone. I always stay true to myself. That’s the impression I got from this fight. I didn’t watch it fully, but I saw the highlights, people’s reactions, and this ‘war’ that was, damn it, sold to us as a fake. I thought, ‘You don’t need to shove this crap at me,'” Diaz said, as quoted by MMAJunkie.
The bout between Chimaev and Strickland at UFC 328 concluded with Sean’s split decision victory, making him the new UFC middleweight champion while Chimaev lost his title belt.