Nate Diaz and Team Makhachev threw water
bottles at each other backstage 😳
#UFC310 pic.twitter.com/gr3TDd5abt— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
December 7, 2024
Nate
Diaz claims he doesn’t remember meeting Islam
Makhachev in an elevator.
Makhachev’s and Diaz’s teams recently got into a near-brawl over
unclear reasons. Makhachev defends his title against Arman
Tsarukyan at UFC 311
on Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The lightweight
champ was in Las Vegas for a presser this past December when he
came across Diaz, who was cornering teammate Kron Gracie
against Bryce
Mitchell at UFC 310.
Both teams hurled water bottles at each other and have later
accused the other side of starting the altercation. Makhachev
believes Diaz hurled the first water bottle, mistaking one of his
teammates to be Khabib
Nurmagomedov. Makhachev also
recently said that Diaz was respectful towards him when they
allegedly met in an elevator a few months ago.
However, Diaz claims Makhachev’s team started the feud looking for
clout. The Stockton, California, native also doesn’t recall meeting
Makhachev in an elevator. Diaz also took a dig at Nurmagomedov, who
was recently controversially removed from a Frontier Airlines
flight over alleged language barriers.
“WTH goin on, I didn’t even know Islam was there,” Diaz wrote on
Instagram. “I don’t even know [which] one he is, I was just there
to corner my boy and these [Ewoks threw] a bottle at me looking for
clout. Wtf did I do lol.
“And I never saw this guy in an elevator… I thought religious
people didn’t lie. Wtf is happening? And wtf happened to champ? All
you had to do was say yes, champ. I gotta go.”
While Diaz and Nurmagomedov never met in the Octagon during their
UFC careers, they almost got into a brawl at a World Series of
Fighting event in 2015. Nurmagomedov retired from the sport with a
perfect record in 2020 and has since been coaching his teammates.
Meanwhile, Diaz’s last MMA appearance came in a win over Tony
Ferguson in 2022 and has since competed twice in boxing,
dropping a decision against Paul and rebounding with a win over
Jorge
Masvidal.