Makhachev Blames Diaz For Bottle Brawl: ‘I’m Not Starting This’

Makhachev says Nate Diaz was all respect when they met with no cameras around, but that changed at UFC 310 when water bottles started flying after a press conference.

Islam Makhachev wants to clear two things up about his UFC 310 incident with Nate Diaz: first, it wasn’t his fault things devolved into another bottle-slinging skirmish. And second, there’s no real beef with Nate Diaz.

Makhachev discussed the situation on Demetrious Johnson’s YouTube channel, which saw Team Diaz (who were at 310 to corner Kron Gracie) chuck water bottles at Team Makhachev (who were there for a UFC 311 press conference).

“Next day they put me next to the cage and Dana come and say, ‘You are troublemaker,’” Islam revealed. “I say, ‘Hey Dana, it’s not my fault!’”

“People think I start this, I’m not starting this,” Makhachev added later. “Security come and they want to send my team from the arena. I say it’s not the guys fault. ‘Sorry your guys have to leave. You have to stay and do interviews and your team has to leave.’ I say, ‘Sorry, it’s not working like this. If they leave, I leave with them. They can stay all interview.’ I was happy, I leave with them. We’re all together.”

It seems silly that the UFC would blame Makhachev for what has become Nate Diaz’s signature stunt. Oh, someone was throwing water bottles around backstage? Nate Diaz was there? Yeah, I’m gonna guess it was Nate Diaz and his guys doing it, even before footage came out confirming.

“Before the fight day, I have press conference then fighters have official weigh-in,” Makhachev recalled. “We sit, and Diaz start to show middle finger. For what? Maybe for someone, it’s good, it’s no problem? But it’s not our style.”

“One of [our] guys, he wears the mask, you know? Maybe he’s sick a little bit, he wear the mask and maybe Diaz is thinking, ‘Oh, it’s Khabib. I’ll show him.’ But that day Khabib not in Vegas, he’s in some other country.”

This all goes back to a brawl in Las Vegas between Khabib and Nate from a decade ago.

“What interesting, like, maybe 5, 6 months ago, I meet Diaz in the elevator in Wynn Hotel,” Makhachev added. “He comes across to me and says, ‘Respect, respect, respect.’ Just walk. But what changed now? When a lot of cameras come, always people change, you know? We don’t have something. If I have something with him, I can fix it in Wynn Hotel.”

“He come to me, not two meters, he say ‘Respect, respect,’ and he go. But when camera come? He changes, you know?”