Islam Makhachev Reveals Interaction with Nate Diaz Prior to Water Bottle Incident

Islam Makhachev and Nate Diaz allegedly had a cordial interaction months before nearly getting into a brawl last December.

Makhachev defends his lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan in the main event at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. Makhachev was in Las Vegas for a promotional presser in December when he almost got into an altercation with Diaz, who was in town to corner teammate Kron Gracie the following weekend at UFC 310. Diaz and Makhachev’s teams threw water bottles at each other before security broke them up without letting it escalate further.

Nate Diaz and Team Makhachev threw water bottles at each other backstage 😳 #UFC310 pic.twitter.com/gr3TDd5abt

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 7, 2024

While Makhachev didn’t have any animosity with Diaz, he believes Khabib Nurmagomedov might have had something to do with the incident. According to Makhachev, Diaz flipped the bird at one of his teammates who was wearing a mask, possibly mistaking him to be “The Eagle.” Diaz and Nurmagomedov have history from their active years, even engaging in a near-brawl at a World Series of Fighting in 2015.

“We sit in before the fight day, I have press conference, the fighters have official weigh-in. We sit and Diaz start to show them [the bird], for what?” Makhachev recently told Demetrious Johnson. “Maybe for someone it's good, it's no problem, but it's not our style. Because one of the guys, he wear the mask. Maybe he's sick a little bit, he wear the mask and maybe Diaz is thinking, 'Oh, it's Khabib and show him… but that day Khabib not in Vegas, he's in some other country.”

Makhachev further revealed that he came across Diaz in an elevator at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas months ago. According to the lightweight champ, Diaz maintained a two feet distance, raised his hands and just paid his respects. Makhachev says Diaz should have sorted his differences with him, if any, inside the elevator, instead of acting tough when cameras are around.

“Interesting, maybe five, six months ago, I meet Diaz in the elevator in Wynn hotel,” Makhachev said. “He go to cross to me and say, 'respect, respect', he just walk, but what change now? They love when a lot of cameras come, always people change. We don't have something… If I have something with him, I can fix it in the Wynn hotel, but he come to me like two meters [distance]. He say, 'respect, respect' and he go.”