Nate Diaz Denies Alleged Elevator Encounter With Islam Makhachev

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.

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