Nate Diaz has no interest in fabricating animosity with Mike Perry to sell their upcoming fight.
The two former UFC stars are set to clash inside the cage at MVP MMA 1, taking place Saturday at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. The event, streaming on Netflix, boasts a roster of familiar names, but one of the most compelling matchups features Diaz and Perry. Both fighters have successfully leveraged their reputations in combat sports since leaving the UFC. Diaz has stepped into the boxing ring against Jake Paul and Jorge Masvidal, while Perry—who also faced Paul—earned the “King of Violence” title in BKFC’s bareknuckle arena.
Despite their tough-guy personas, there is no genuine hostility between them.
At UFC 328, Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland built their middleweight title fight with intense pre-fight trash talk, including threats of gun violence. Perry noticed and asked Diaz how they could generate more interest in their own bout.
“How are we gonna get ’em – did you watch Khamzat vs. Strickland last night?” Perry asked Diaz on “MVP Face 2 Face.” “I ask because I was motivated by it. Khamzat and Strickland talked a lot of sh*t before the fight. They said after they sold the fight. Before they even started the fight, they’re touching gloves. They were ready to perform. I get wanting to have fun, I don’t want to bash on anybody who’s…”
Diaz cut him off, making it clear he wants no part of manufacturing fake heat. Chimaev and Strickland later admitted their pre-fight hatred was staged, and Diaz prefers to keep things real rather than deceive the fans.
“Yeah, they were faking the funk,” Diaz said. “And they were f*cking acting like crazy and talking all this sh*t to each other and then hugging and showing love the whole fight like some bitches. Fake f*cking puppets. I’m f*cking cool off that sh*t. I got a fight with this dude, he’s most violent motherf*cker. He knocked out f*cking middleweight (Luke) Rockhold, and f*cking (Jeremy) Stephens, and beat a lot of good people, doing boss sh*t on the outside (of the UFC). I was already OK with him. We’re not f*cking friends or anything like that, but I’m not gonna f*cking 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 f*ck, and mean and all that sh*t. I came here to fight, train hard, win and f*ck your sh*t up, just like I know you’re planning on f*cking my sh*t up – and I’m not gonna put no artificial beef out there, OK?”
For Diaz, if the fight itself is compelling enough, he will watch regardless of pre-fight theatrics. He believes that is exactly what he has with Perry for Most Valuable Promotions’ first MMA event.
“I saw highlights of (Chimaev and Strickland) hugging and f*cking shaking hands right off the bat, and the whole time, it’s f*cking like you bullsh*tted me,” Diaz said. “I didn’t bullsh*t nobody. I keep it real all the way through. That’s what I got out of that fight. I didn’t watch it, but I saw the highlights and the feedback on it – and I saw the war that was f*cking bullsh*tted to us. I’m like, you don’t gotta bullsh*t me.”