Islam Makhachev recently gave his side of the story regarding an altercation that he and his team had with Nate Diaz last month in Las Vegas.
The lightweight champion was in attendance for UFC 310 fight week where he ended up being in headlines due to a water bottle throwing contest between him and Diaz.
Makhachev was there alongside his teammate Umar Nurmagomedov for the UFC 311 press conference whilst the former BMF title challenger was cornering Kron Gracie at the final PPV card of 2024.
He spoke during a recent podcast interview with Demetrious Johnson about how despite Dana White calling him a "troublemaker", it was not his fault.
“We sat, before fight day, I had a press conference, fighters had official weigh-ins. We sat and Diaz started to show [gestures his middle finger] for what? Maybe for someone, it’s good, no problem, but that’s not our style.”
Makhachev said that the altercation may have stemmed from Diaz believing that Khabib Nurmagomedov was also in attendance, potentially because one of their team was wearing a mask.
In the end, some bottles being thrown was all that happened after Makhachev left the arena with his team when they were asked to depart.
He told the former UFC flyweight champion that he doesn't understand where this hostility came from when in his previous interaction with Diaz, there was respect between them.
“You know what’s interesting, maybe five, six months ago, I meet Diaz in the elevator in the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas,” Makhachev said. “He goes to me and says, ‘Respect, respect, respect.’ But what changed now? A lot of cameras come and always people change.
“We don’t have something. If I have something with him, I can fix it in the Wynn Hotel. But he came to me and said ‘Respect’ and then he go. But when camera comes, he’s changing. And people think I started this!"
Watch the full podcast interview by clicking right here.
