Khabib Nurmagomedov, Nate Diaz Involved in Brief Confrontation at UFC 239

Khabib and Nate Diaz got into it and had to be separated at #UFC239

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— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 7, 2019

When Khabib Nurmagomedov and Nate Diaz are in the same venue and in close proximity of one another, sparks are bound to fly.

Both fighters were in attendance at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for UFC 239 on Saturday night, and a brief confrontation between the two men was caught on camera. The incident didn’t get physical, as the parties were quickly separated by security before anything serious could occur.

“They got into a fight, Khabib and Diaz, talking s—t to each other back and forth,” UFC president Dana White said at the UFC 239 post fight press conference. “Everybody broke it up, we moved Diaz and then Diaz left after the [Gilbert] Melendez fight.”

A more serious altercation between Diaz and Nurmagomedov occurred at a World Series of Fighting event in 2015. Punches were reportedly thrown, and Nate’s brother Nick Diaz threw a drink toward Nurmagomedov, which only served to escalate the situation until both camps were eventually separated.

Saturday’s incident was mild by comparison.

“Everybody got it [contained] before it became anything other than verbal,” White said of the confrontation in the crowd at UFC 239.

Diaz is expected to make his long-awaited return to the Octagon at UFC 241 on Aug. 17, when he will square off against Anthony Pettis in Anaheim, Calif. Nurmagomedov will make his second lightweight title defense against interim champ Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi on Sept. 7.