A backstage altercation ahead of UFC 310 landed Nate Diaz in the headlines for all the wrong reasons after he got into a water bottle fight with members of a team led by UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
While the fighters never actually traded blows, Diaz and the Russians were launching water bottles at each other following a press conference featuring Makhachev and his longtime friend and teammate Umar Nurmagomedov. Now it’s not a total surprise that Diaz shouldered the blame for starting that near-melee considering his history with launching drinks at an opponent but at least one UFC fighter that was also backstage that day says the Stockton, Calif., native isn’t to blame.
“A water bottle almost hit me when I was with [Nate] Diaz, and I’m like, ‘Alright, who the f*ck am I f*cking up?’” UFC flyweight Brandon Royval told MMA Fighting. “I don’t care who it is. Diaz is walking in front of me. The water bottle f*cking zooms by my head. That’s another thing people didn’t see. Diaz did not throw that first water bottle.
“The first water bottle was thrown at him. He was walking, that water bottle zoomed past, almost f*cking took me out. I look up and I’m like, ‘Who the f*ck was that?’ and then Diaz turned around and I’m like, ‘Oh, they’re going after him.’ But originally I thought these motherf*ckers were throwing water bottles at me. I was like what the f*ck?”
Nate Diaz and Team Makhachev threw water bottles at each other backstage #UFC310 pic.twitter.com/gr3TDd5abt
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 7, 2024
Now Royval, who is expected to make his return to action against Manel Kape on March 1, acknowledges that Diaz probably doesn’t care one bit whether or not he’s exonerated from starting the water bottle fight. However, as a witness to the entire altercation, he says with confidence that it was a member of Makhachev’s team who made the first move.
In fact, Royval even identified who did it when he nearly got tagged with the water bottle and then turned around to see if perhaps he was going to end up getting into a backstage fight.
“I know exactly who threw the water bottle. I seen it,” Royval revealed. “It was the flyweight Russian kid [Tagir Ulanbekov], he was one who threw the first water bottle. I turned around and saw it. I saw who f*cking threw it, it whizzed past my f*cking head.
“I hear commotion and that water bottle whizzed past my head and I’m like you motherf*ckers. I’m like they’re throwing it at [Diaz], it was just a bad throw.”
Of course, Diaz rarely backs down from a confrontation, and he’s gotten involved in more than a few incidents outside the cage, which has landed him in hot water from time to time.
That’s why Royval knows Diaz probably couldn’t care less if he’s the one taking the brunt of the blame for the incident ahead of UFC 310.
“F*ck no and he don’t give a shit to clear his name,” Royval said about Diaz. “But that is just the truth. He ain’t the one that threw the first water bottle. I don’t know if there was something that led up to that beforehand but I was walking in front of him for pretty much the length of that walk.
“I swear to God, Nate did not start that shit. As far as throwing water bottles, the video shows Nate throwing the first water bottle but somebody recorded it because the water bottle is thrown at him first. I was in the back, that shit almost hit me. I was like what the f*ck is going on? Oh it’s Nate Diaz in front of me. I didn’t even realize.”
