Always Expect the Unexpected with Nate Diaz and the UFC

It was quiet. Maybe a little too quiet.

So much so, that maybe we should have seen something coming.

It is Nate Diaz, after all.

And given the controversy and contentiousness that has symbolized the 34-year-old's career in mixed martial arts, the idea he could have gotten from fight-launch press release to a post-fight press conference with nary a radar blip was pretty preposterous.

But yeah, this one was nuts...even by BMF standards.

For those who've spent several days under a wifi-bereft rock, the Diaz-Jorge Masvidal main event of Nov. 2's UFC 244 show at Madison Square Garden was jeopardized on Thursday when Diaz—long an outspoken champion of "clean" competition—took to Twitter to announce he'd been told he'd shown "elevated levels" of a banned substance during an October test by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (note: contains profanity): 

His six-word tweet—"Your (sic) all on steroids not me"—was accompanied by a lengthy attachment in which he said he'd not be fighting unless UFC, USADA or "whoever is f--king with me fixes it."

"I'm not gonna play their game and try and hide it or keep quite (sic), as they suggested," Diaz wrote. "I'm not gonna have my name tainted as a cheater like these other motherf--kers who keep quiet until after the fight just to so they can get paid. ... I don't give a f--k about some money over my dignity and my legacy. I'm not playing along with this bulls--t."

The Stockton, California, native was never actually banned from the fight, but his sudden Thursday declaration, and a since-deleted Friday tweet in which he demanded UFC boss Dana White "clear my name or I ain't doin' s--t," instantly set the octagonal face-saving dial to full speed ahead.

White took to Twitter to insist "The fight is on. I 100 (percent) knew Nate wasn't taking anything to cheat," and the UFC released a lengthy statement that both chronicled a long-term review of the organization's anti-doping policy in conjunction with USADA and implicitly stated, "Diaz has not committed an anti-doping policy violation, has not been provisionally suspended and is not subject to any sanctions."

According to the statement, Diaz's levels of LGD-4033 (known commercially as Ligandrol)—a prohibited selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM)—were below a revised "minimum threshold" agreed upon by the UFC and USADA as an "innocent contamination." Subsequent lab testing in Utah confirmed two bottles of an organic, vegan, plant-based daily multivitamin he was using were contaminated with LGD-4033, which resulted in his positive sample.

Exactly as he'd suggested in his initial tweet.

It's a legit "baddest motherf--ker in the game" move, said Graham Hunter, sports anchor at ABC's WRTV affiliate in Indianapolis.

But even he was surprised at the level of ballsyness to which Diaz ascended.

"I was a little worried. When he says he's out he's usually out," Hunter said.

"I said these guys wouldn't pull out for a stubbed toe, but I never thought about implied PED use as a cause to end the fight. I'm still not 100 percent certain it's even on. Sounds like it is but you never know with that guy. He doesn't play games with the powers that be."

Never will, it seems. And, for that matter, really never has.

It's hardly a secret that Diaz—occasionally in conjunction with older brother Nick—has been a perennial poster boy for on-the-margins MMA behavior.

He came out as a credible black-hatted villain more than a decade ago, ending a UFC Fight Night match in 2008 with a triangle choke of Kurt Pellegrino that was accompanied by a double-bicep flex and a dual middle-finger salute as the beaten man tapped out.

The infamous "Nashville Brawl" followed barely two years later, when he and Nick took exception to Jason Miller's spontaneous in-cage challenge of family pal Jake Shields and triggered a melee during a live Strikeforce broadcast on CBS.

The Strikeforce promotion never again appeared on CBS and was sold to UFC a year later.

High-profile flare-ups with Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Khabib Nurmagomedov maintained Diaz's bad-boy rep with the hardcore set in 2011 and 2015, respectively, before he performed for a pay-per-view audience as a late-stage sub alongside a then-streaking Conor McGregor at UFC 196 in March 2016.

The rivals took their respective supporters to middle-finger Valhalla in the days leading up to the fight in Las Vegas, including a night-before weigh-in at which the fighters were separated from laying hands on each other but still managed to land a few gestures.

Twenty-four hours later, he pulled off the upset of the year by submitting McGregor in two rounds.

Another five months later, their classic rematch did a then-UFC record 1.65 million buys.

So no matter the result with Masvidal, Diaz remains the envelope-pushing gift that keeps on giving.

"They wanted him to be quiet and he wasn't having it. He felt like he was losing control of his reputation and snatched it back," Hunter said. "You have to always admire a guy who stands up for himself."

*Unless otherwise credited, all quotes were obtained firsthand.