Nate Diaz Clears the Air on Islam Makhachev and Khabib
Nate Diaz shut down the idea that he has any personal history with Islam Makhachev. The Stockton veteran said the old beef belonged to Khabib Nurmagomedov, not the current welterweight champion.
The comments came in an interview with Red Corner MMA during the same New York media swing as the Ki MMA launch. An interviewer asked whether Diaz was impressed with what Makhachev has done lately after their supposed run-ins.
Diaz cut that premise off immediately.
“I’ve never had no run-ins with Islam Makhachev,” he said. “I never had run-ins with anyone. I ran into Khabib back in the day and we all got into it, but that’s about it.”
That is the record as Diaz tells it. The public clashes were with Khabib’s camp in 2015 at a World Series of Fighting card in Las Vegas and again in a verbal exchange at UFC 239 in 2019. Dana White confirmed the later incident was broken up before it went past words.
Makhachev was part of that Dagestani circle for years. He was not the man Diaz slapped in the lobby or jawed with cage-side. Diaz drew that line without extra heat.
He then answered the second half of the question. Asked if he was impressed by Makhachev’s recent run, Diaz did not dodge.
“He’s doing a good job,” Diaz said. “Who did he just beat? He just beat JDM and then Ian Garry. Yeah, he’s doing a good job. I thought he would beat Ian Garry.”
Those two names are the ones that matter at 170 pounds. Makhachev took the welterweight title from Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 in November 2025. He kept it against Ian Machado Garry by unanimous decision at UFC 330 in August.
That defense also pushed Makhachev to 17 straight UFC wins. Diaz did not dive into records or pound-for-pound talk. He named the opponents and called the work good.
The tone is different from older Diaz comments about the Dagestani school. Last year he dismissed early GOAT talk around Makhachev and said he had not seen enough. This clip is narrower. He corrected the history and gave the champion credit for the last two title fights.
That correction matters because the names get blended in highlight packages. Khabib retired undefeated. Makhachev moved up, won a second belt, and is still active. Fans who only remember the 2015 brawl sometimes treat the whole team as one story.
Diaz refused that shortcut. He said he never had run-ins with anyone except the night he ran into Khabib. Then he stopped.
The champion is targeting another defense before Ramadan in February 2027. Carlos Prates and Michael Morales are the contenders he has named most often. None of that was part of Diaz’s answer.
Diaz is a free agent after a May loss to Mike Perry and is talking about two fights in 2027, including possible work for Scott Coker’s new promotion. He also still talks about a Conor McGregor trilogy if the timing lines up. Those plans sit on a different calendar from Makhachev’s title run.
The clip does not create a fight. It closes a rumor. Diaz said there was never an Islam problem, only an old Khabib night, and that the man who just beat Della Maddalena and Garry is doing a good job.
That is as clean as the Stockton veteran usually gets. The next chapter for Makhachev is the booking of his second welterweight defense. Diaz will be watching from wherever he fights next.