Photo via Cagepotato.com
"I think Diaz's actions were pretty irresponsible. There's all this speculation about social anxiety and stuff. If that's the case, I would think Nick has the kind of money to address that kind of thing with some therapy or whatever. When I started seeing things online I wondered how Zuffa was going to handle it. I hate that it seems like they reward 'bad boy' behavior, like, 'I'm gonna go on TUF and act like the biggest idiot in the world, and if I do in the end they're going to give me a bigger fight.' A lot of fighters see that stuff and it's disheartening because they're so busy training, trying to do things properly, that they don't have time or interest in acting ridiculous. But then when people do that and you see that the UFC rewards it you're kind of like, 'What the hell is going on?' So initially it was kind of refreshing to see them put their foot down, draw the line at the lack of professionalism, but then you know how things went. We're all required to do media and we all hate it. I don't think any fighter wants to miss training sessions to do interviews. But it's part of the job. I don't think people should be allowed to dodge it. Georges St. Pierre said it best when he talked about how he had to miss time in the gym to promote fights and if Diaz doesn't, it's basically an unfair advantage."
UFC lightweight Aaron Riley, who fights Anthony Ferguson at UFC 135 on Sept. 24 in Denver, Colorado, tells Fighters.com that he "hates" the way it seems as though Zuffa rewards "bad boy behavior." He's referring, of course, to notorious troublemaker Nick Diaz, who was yanked from his UFC 137 title fight against Georges St. Pierre for ditching his media obligations -- only to get a new bout opposite mixed martial arts legend B.J. Penn just a few days later. Did Zuffa send the wrong message with the way it handled Diaz? Or do they have too much invested in the Stockton slugger to abandon ship? Who out there in MMA land agrees with Riley?


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