Nate Diaz has been suspended 90 days by the UFC. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Ultimate Fighting Championship has suspended Nate Diaz for 90 days and have fined him $20,000 for a homophobic slur on his Twitter account. The UFC lightweight took to his Twitter account on Thursday to verbally attack bantamweight fighter Bryan Caraway. Diaz took exception to Caraway receiving a $60,000 bonus for submission of the night after the original recipient, Pat Healy, was docked $130,000 in bonus money for failing a post-fight drug test.

The UFC said in a statement that the money Diaz is being docked will be donated to charity.  Diaz’s manager, Mike Kogan, defended Diaz’s homophobic slur, claiming the slur had a different meaning in Northern California, where Diaz is from.

“Nate voiced a personal opinion about an incident that took place involving Bryan Caraway in which he chased Dana all over Twitter to try to get a bonus, which was taken away from Pat Healy, got the bonus, and then had the nerve to go back out there and bash (Healy),” Kogan said.

Heavyweight Matt Mitrione called transgender fighter Fallon Fox “a disgusting freak” during an interview on Monday. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images)

Hours after heavyweight Matt Mitrione called transgender fighter Fallon Fox “a disgusting freak,” among other insults, UFC suspended Mitrione indefinitely and denounced his comments.

During Ariel Helwani’s podcast “The MMA Hour,” Mitrione repeatedly referred to Fox — a postoperative transgender female who revealed in March that she was born a man — as a “he.”

Fallon underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2006 and has won each of her first two career MMA fights as a featherweight, with another scheduled for May. Mitrione scored a knockout on Saturday to snap a two-match losing streak and improve to 6-2 overall.

From Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole:

“Because she’s not a he. He’s a he,” he said. “He’s chromosomally a man. He had a gender change, not a sex change. He’s still a man. He was a man for 31 years. Thirty-one years. That’s a couple years younger than I am. He’s a man. Six years of taking performance de-hancing drugs, you think is going to change all that? That’s ridiculous.

“That is a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” he continued. “And I mean that. Because you lied on your license to beat up women. That’s disgusting. You should be embarrassed yourself. And the fact that Florida licensed him because California licensed him or whoever the hell did it, it’s an embarrassment to us as fighters, as a sport, and we all should protest that. The woman that’s fighting him, props to you. I hope you beat his ass, and I hope he gets blackballed and never fights again, because that’s disgusting and I’m appalled by that.”

UFC announced Mitrione’s suspension and released a statement shortly thereafter.

“The UFC was appalled by the transphobic comments made by heavyweight Matt Mitrione today in an interview on ‘The MMA Hour.’ The organization finds Mr. Mitrione’s comments offensive and wholly unacceptable and – as a direct result of this significant breach of the UFC’s code of conduct – Mr. Mitrione’s UFC contract has been suspended and the incident is being investigated. The UFC is a friend and ally of the LGBT community, and expects and requires all 450 of its athletes to treat others with dignity and respect.”

Advocacy groups want Quinton “Rampage” Jackson removed from his upcoming UFC fight. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images)

The UFC received a letter signed by various advocacy groups on Thursday calling for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to be dropped from an upcoming fight because of repeated comments made by him towards female reporters that the letter says is “denigrating” towards women. The letter also cites a video posted to YouTube in which Jackson demonstrates how to rape a woman in a parking garage.

The groups want Jackson to be removed from his Jan. 26 fight on Fox and said the UFC must hold its fighters accountable for their actions and adopt a “meaningful” code of conduct:

“The UFC must begin holding its fighters accountable for their actions and adopt a meaningful code of conduct…The behavior of Rampage Jackson, UFC President Dana White and other UFC fighters is unacceptable.  Misogynistic and sexist behavior can no longer be tolerated in the UFC.“

The letter also calls upon Fox executives and UFC sponsors to demand that Jackson be removed from the fight.

Athanasia Papaioannou, an Assistant Director of the University of Illinois Chicago Women’s Leadership and Resource Center, called Jackson’s comments and actions “appalling” and was one of many people to sign the letter:

“This is truly appalling and undermines the work we do every day.”

UFC President Dana White has yet to issue a statement on the matter.

UFC light heavyweight fighter Thiago Silva has been suspended six months and will undergo a drug rehab program for testing positive for marijuana after a post-fight drug screen on Nov. 10 in Macau for UFC on FUEL TV 6, according to a report Thursday from John Morgan of USA Today Sports. 

The UFC issued a statement saying Silva admitted to using drugs and said he will have to take another drug test in six months in order to compete again:

“The UFC organization has a strict, consistent policy against the use of any illegal and/or performance-enhancing drugs, stimulants or masking agents. [S]ilva has admitted to taking the banned substance and has agreed to participate in an approved drug-rehabilitation program and serve a six-month suspension retroactive to the November 10 event. He must pass a drug test upon completion of the suspension before receiving clearance to fight again.”

This isn’t the first time Silva was suspended for a drug test; in January 2011, after beating Brandon Vera at UFC-125, Silva was suspended and fined by the Nevada State Athletic Commission because he submitted a fake urine sample.

The news was also reported by MMA reporter Ariel Helwani.

Zuffa announces that Thiago Silva tested positive for marijuana metabolites in Macau. He has been suspended for 6 mths: m.ufc.com/news/Zuffa-Sta…—
Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 22, 2012

Ronda Rousey reportedly will become UFC’s first woman fighter. (Kevin Winters/Getty Images)

TMZ reports Ronda Rousey will become the first female fighter to join UFC and Strikeforce will fold after its Jan. 12 card in Oklahoma City.

UFC is expected to schedule Rousey’s debut in the near future. The bantamweight champion is 6-0 with Strikeforce. Strikeforce’s remaining roster of women fighters could soon follow.

UFC president Dana White has flat out said the UFC would never include a women’s division in the past.

White recently changed his tune, committing to creating a women’s division with Rousey as its star.

Strikeforce has long struggled to exist under UFC’s immense shadow, despite television agreements with Showtime and CBS.

Mixed Martial Arts fighter Dan “Hendo” Henderson is reportedly continuing to train for UFC 151 in September despite rumors that he will drop out of the fight because of a knee injury.

Henderson is scheduled to fight against the up-and-coming Jon Jones in the pay-per-view main event at The Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on Sept. 1. The fight is for the “Bones” 205-pound title.

According to a report Thursday morning from MMA blog CageFighter.com, the rumor is that Henderson injured his knee in a grappling exercise with MMA fighter Thierry Sokoudjou on Wednesday:

Henderson returned from the doctors office with a leg brace securing the injury. [H]enderson also reportedly has not been approved for his TRT exemption as of now.

Bleacher Report’s national UFC writer Jeremy Botter alluded in a tweet early Thursday morning that the rumor could be true and that Henderson might withdraw from the fight.

If what I'm hearing is correct, UFC 151 may be in desperate need of a main event. And that sucks.—
Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) August 23, 2012

UFC announcer Kenny Florian also hinted on Twitter on Wednesday that Henderson may be out.

Hearing that we may have some disappointed @UFC fans soon due to some unfortunate circumstances for an upcoming card. 😔—
Kenny Florian (@kennyflorian) August 23, 2012

UFC fighter Tarec Saffiedine tweeted on Thursday that he hadn’t seen Henderson since his own fight for Strikeforce earlier in August.

But, despite all of the rumors and speculation on Twitter, “Dangerous Dan” is still training.

He took to Twitter just after midnight on Thursday, shortly after Saffiedine said he hadn’t seen him, to say he just finished a training session with a number of UFC fighters, including Saffiedine. Henderson also said in the early hours of Thursday morning that he is “getting worked on” by Mariah Villalobos, an extreme sports massage therapist, and is finishing the day “happy.”

Just got done with a great training session with the boys. @CyrilleDiabate @tarecfighter @heathlsims @RFBJJ @rockholdMMA—
Dan Henderson (@danhendo) August 23, 2012

Headed to the house to get worked on by @msmariahv to finish of the day happy.—
Dan Henderson (@danhendo) August 23, 2012

UFC president Dana White has been mum on the rumor, so the fight will continue as scheduled for Sept. 1.

UFC President Dana White called WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. a racist Tuesday night for a tweet made about the New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, according to ESPN. Mayweather had said in a tweet Feb. 13 that Lin would not get as much attention if he were African American.

“First of all, what (Mayweather) said, I think, is racist.” Dana White said in an interview on Fuel TV. “He’s made a couple of racist comments. And yes, Floyd, you’re racist with the stuff that you’ve said.

“And you say African-Americans don’t get it (the same praise Lin receives)? Kobe Bryant doesn’t get any praise? Michael Jordan never got any praise… Not only can (Lin) compete and make it in the NBA, the guy is tearing it up and is breaking records, you knucklehead,” White continued.

White had also previously called out Mayweather for racists comments the boxing champion made against Manny Pacquiao.  Mayweather’s camp responded back to White in an interview with Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday night saying that the UFC president  is “prone to ignorant outbursts” among other critical remarks of White’s character.

Mayweather, who was sentenced to 90 days in jail as a result of a domestic violence charge, had his sentence date postponed in order to fight on May 5.  Boxing fans hoped it would be the day they would see the “superfight” between Mayweather and Pacquiao.  Instead, Mayweather will face WBA junior middleweight titleholder Miguel Cotto on May 5 in Las Vegas.

Dana White spoke out against a group of hackers who rerouted UFC.com, calling them “terrorists,” according to Yahoo! Sports. White also re-affirmed his support for the controversial anti-piracy bills, SOPA and PIPA, that were recently nixed in Congress.

“Keep hacking our site, do it again. Do it tonight,” said White. “These guys look like terrorists now and a bill that was about to die, is about to come back.”

The hackers who took credit for the hit against UFC’s website say they did so in retaliation to the organization’s initial support for SOPA and PIPA. As a result of White’s words, the hackers today released information about his personal identification, including his social security number, personal phone number and vehicle identification number.

SOPA and PIPA were bills designed to give the government the ability to stop internet piracy, however massive online protests to the language within the bills eventually resulted in them being pulled. SOPA and PIPA, however, were not designed to stop internet hacks like the one UFC.com suffered.

The UFC has filed a lawsuit against New York State officials to challenge the state law which bans professional Mixed Martial Arts events, the UFC announced in a statement on their website today.  

“The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and a group of plaintiffs including fighters, fans, trainers and others involved with Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) announced today that they have filed a lawsuit against New York State officials challenging the constitutionality of the state law banning live professional MMA events and associated activities (the “Ban”).  The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenges the Ban for violating numerous provisions of the United States Constitution, including the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause,“ the statement reads.

This summer a bill which promised to legalize the sport in the state of New York stalled in the State Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee. The proposed bill had cleared the New York Assembly Tourism Committee and also passed in the State Senate.

New York’s ban on MMA dates back to 1997. After holding its first event in 1995 at Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium, New York issued a state-wide ban on MMA after the sport was seen as too violent. New York is one of three remaining states which have not yet fully sanctioned the sport.