Nate Diaz is not happy about how the Sean Strickland vs. Khamzat Chimaev fight was sold to the public. In fact, the former UFC star is disgusted by the ‘fake’ beef, trash talk, and altercations the pair stirred up before the bout. So, during his MVP Face 2 Face segment with Mike Perry ahead of their upcoming fight on Netflix this Saturday, the 41-year-old called out Strickland and Chimaev for what he saw as pure deception.

“They were faking the funk, and they were f—ing acting like crazy and talking all this s–t to each other and hugging and f—ing showing them the whole fight like some b–ch,” Nate Diaz said. “Fake f—ing puppets. I’m f—ing cool off that s–t… We’re not f—ing friends or anything like that, but I’m not gonna f—ing play around and make no fake artificial beef with you.

“Okay? … I’m not here for a sit-down f—ing pow wow. I’m not trying to kumbaya or none of that s–t… Hugging and f—ing, shaking hands right off the bat, the whole time. It’s f—ing like you did bulls–t to me. I ain’t bulls–tting nobody, I keep it real all the way through… That was f—ing bulls–tted to us. You don’t gotta bulls–t me, I’m gonna watch. F–k him still… I don’t even lose [any] sleep over it. I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I [were] sitting there bulls–ting everybody… Gotta be proud regardless.”

Despite the later niceties that succeeded their fight, before it, the two were at each other’s throats. The Chechen had threatened to jump ‘Tarzan.’ And the latter responded by threatening to shoot him and his team. On the UFC’s part, they had beefed up the security for the face-off and kept the fighters in separate hotels. And even then, during their face-off, Chimaev ended up kicking Strickland on the shin. 

Security personnel and armed officers had to get involved to stop things from escalating further. On fight night, however, the fighters appeared to be much more civil and waited for their fight inside the octagon. Strickland, of course, ended up causing an upset by beating Chimaev via split decision. However, he later admitted that he had put on a show to entertain fans and get them to tune in on fight night. The rivalry even convinced UFC CEO Dana White.

Dana White had claimed the beef between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland is only overshadowed by two others

Dana White believed the rivalry between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland was among the most intense feuds in UFC history. However, for him, two rivalries still ranked higher. After the face-off chaos for UFC 328, White revealed what he thought about their beef. 

“This is one of the worst cases of bad blood ever,” White said. “I put it No. 2 on the all-time list.”

The UFC CEO gave the No. 1 spot to the rivalry between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. 

“Conor-Khabib No. 1. And the only reason Conor-Khabib is No. 1 is Brooklyn, and then what happened after the fight. … We made some mistakes, obviously, leading up to that fight and after that fight. And we won’t do that again.”

Dana White had Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier at No. 2. 

“Actually, you’re right. … [Jones vs Cormier] that’s probably No. 2,” he added. “I forgot there was a fist fight in the lobby of the MGM while people were checking into their hotel. I would put [Chimaev vs. Strickland] at 3.”

But now that it has been revealed that the entire beef was manufactured, it would be interesting to learn where Dana White places it now.

With respect to how Nate Diaz saw the fight, it’s clear that the UFC veteran would rather entertain fans with violence than trash-talk throughout the lead-up and make the rivalry look real.