Nate Diaz is no stranger to speaking his mind. Ahead of his final UFC bout, he criticized Dwayne Johnson’s UFC venture, which reportedly left the UFC stars unpaid.
Project Rock X UFC has come under fire for not giving the competitors any incentive to actually wear them.
Despite the fact that the shoes feature the slogan “for those who walk the walk,” many UFC athletes would prefer to walk in anything other than Project Rock gear.
In an interview with Megan Olivi, Diaz didn’t hold back his thoughts on the matter.
Diaz remarked: “These shoes f**king suck! Look at these shoes. They made me put this sh*t on. F**k these shoes! ”
Naturally, UFC was quick to cut the segment from the broadcast but it was posted on snapchat and ended up going viral.
Diaz would end up facing Tony Ferguson in a late day switch up at UFC 279 – and submit him with a guillotine. He then proceeded to once again slam the shoe at the presser and naturally wore his own.
Diaz wasn’t the only one to criticize the Rock shoe collaboration – UFC Heavyweight Chris Daukaus had more to add.
“These sneakers f*cking suck. They really do suck. They’re uncomfortable, super tight, big — they f*cking suck. Talk sh*t about the Reebok deal, (but) the quality of shoe with Reebok, way better in my opinion.”
“I’m just not a fan or Under Armour shoes… They just suck. Sorry Rock. You can find me, I’m in Philadelphia. Come if you wanna say something, your shoes f*cking suck.”
Terrance McKinney has spoken out on the issue on social media, urging Johnson to support the athletes.
Recently, Diaz attended the presser ahead of his boxing bout with Jake Paul and discussed the infamous shoe incident. As per ESPN:
“I like The Rock, too,” Diaz said. “I just didn’t like being ordered by somebody to wear an outfit. And I’m trying to walk out to weigh-ins and then they put red shoes on me. I’m like, ‘Can I have black ones?’ [They said] ‘There is no black ones.’ F— these red ass f—ing McDonald’s ass shoes I’m going to wear.”
Diaz wore the coveted Air Jordan 1 Travis Scott “Black Phantom” sneakers to the news conference.