Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has offered his response to Nate Diaz.
In the main event of UFC 244 earlier this month, Diaz and Jorge Masvidal clashed for the special BMF championship. The action took place inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. Masvidal won the bout with a third-round TKO via doctor’s stoppage. “The Rock” was present in MSG and put the title around Masvidal’s waist.
The Rock Has No Hard Feelings For Nate Diaz
Speaking to reporters at the UFC 244 post-fight press conference, Diaz took aim at “The Rock” as he felt he was taking Masvidal’s side due to their Miami connection. Diaz quickly laughed it off, however. During an appearance on ESPN’s Ariel Helwani MMA Show, “The Rock” responded to Diaz positively.
“He did. I wasn’t surprised at Nate’s comments because that’s the Nate that we all know and love. He is as advertised. Nate, he gets it. He knows that me and Jorge we’re boys, we’re from Miami. We have a lot of deep connections down there. A lot of the fighters we know, a lot of the coaches and trainers that we know, a lot of the gyms that we’ve been to down there. So there’s a connection, so no I was totally fine with it. He gets it.”
“The Rock” went on to say that he wanted to help promote the UFC 244 main event while being neutral.
“Again I went into the fight, I wanted to be as neutral as possible when I was promoting it because as we’re leading up to it and selling it on pay-per-view I didn’t want to come out and say, ‘Jorge’s my boy and he’s gonna win.’ No, I just wanted to be neutral and I thought that was the best, smartest, strategic play to get as many new eyes on this fight as possible and again help impact in my own little way the bottom line. From what I’m told, since UFC’s transition it was the biggest fight they’ve ever had, second I’m sorry, to Conor and Khabib which is quite an amazing accomplishment. I’m very proud for both those guys.”
