Brandon Royval came to the defense of former UFC superstar Nate Diaz after a backstage altercation with Islam Makhachev and his team.
Nate Diaz has been involved in many brawls and altercations throughout his illustrious combat sports career. However, following a viral incident with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and his team at UFC 310, top flyweight Brandon Royval asserts that Diaz was not the instigator in this case.
Diaz attended UFC 310 in Las Vegas to support his teammate, Kron Gracie, in the featherweight’s bout against Bryce Mitchell. Although Diaz has not fought in the UFC Octagon since his final fight at UFC 279, he has kept a presence at several high-profile events this year.
Minutes before the ceremonial weigh-in for UFC 310, tensions flared backstage, leading to Diaz and Makhachev’s teams nearly coming to blows. Instead of engaging directly, both sides resorted to throwing bottles at one another until UFC security intervened and separated them.
After footage of the bottle-throwing incident circulated on social media, many observers quickly blamed Diaz for igniting the conflict. This association was intensified by the infamous bottle-throwing incident involving the Diaz brothers at the UFC 202 pre-fight press conference before Nate’s rematch with Conor McGregor.
However, according to Brandon Royval, the footage from the Diaz and Makhachev confrontation does not tell the complete story.
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin, Royval recounted his perspective on the events he witnessed backstage. He stated, “Diaz is walking by me, and a water bottle zooms past my head. That’s what people didn’t see! Diaz didn’t throw that first water bottle; the first one was thrown at him. Diaz turned around, and they were going after him. I knew exactly who threw the water bottle! It was [Tagir Ulanbekov], I turned around and saw it…”
He further emphasized, “It was just a bad throw! I swear to god, Nate did not start that s***. The video shows Nate throwing the first water bottle, but somebody didn’t record it because someone threw it at him first.”
This isn’t the first time Diaz has clashed with fighters from Team Khabib. Throughout his Hall of Fame career, he had multiple confrontations with Khabib Nurmagomedov both inside and outside of the Octagon.
There are discussions about Diaz potentially returning to the UFC in the future, but it seems likely that he will be kept away from Makhachev and Team Khabib. Diaz left the promotion after defeating Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 in 2022.
Since receiving his release from the UFC, Diaz has hinted at a possible return, particularly for a long-anticipated trilogy fight with McGregor. Both fighters headlined two of the highest-grossing events in UFC history, and even with McGregor currently on hiatus, the allure of a trilogy bout remains strong.
Earlier this year, Diaz secured his first professional boxing victory by defeating former UFC opponent Jorge Masvidal by majority decision. Prior to that, he faced Jake Paul in his boxing debut but expressed interest in potentially facing Paul again.
Brandon Royval recently scored a victory over the previously undefeated Tatsuro Taira in the Octagon. He is rumored to be facing Manel Kape next on March 1st, though nothing has been officially confirmed by the UFC as of now.
Meanwhile, Islam Makhachev is set to defend his UFC lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan in the headliner of UFC 311 next month, following a successful title defense against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302.
Without additional footage, it is challenging to validate Royval’s claims regarding Diaz’s role in the altercation with Makhachev’s team at UFC 310. Despite Diaz’s history of provoking conflicts, Royval insists this time was different.
