Nate Diaz opens up on the time he slapped ‘bully’ Khabib Nurmagomedov

Nate Diaz and Khabib Nurmagomedov have had a number of run-ins over the years, but the most notable occurred at a World Series of Fighting show in 2015.

Diaz recounted that infamous altecation on the latest episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show.

“I’m not into this bully s***, he’s [Nurmagomedov] into bullying and stuff, that’s his thing,” Diaz said (transcript via South China Morning Post). “When I ran into him and his team at the World Series, I was standing there watching Jake, my friend, fight. And they took a group picture with me behind them, just to laugh at me, make fun of me.

“[Nurmagomedov] is like, ‘Ah, come on, man’ and they’re all laughing, 12 Russian dudes. I slapped him in his face for making fun of me and I’m like, ‘What?’ And he didn’t do nothing.”

This incident resulted in Diaz being kicked out of the venue, but that’s not where the trouble ended. Feeling sour about his forced exit from the event, he waited for Nurmagomedov and his entourage outside — though he admits that was foolish.

“I was outside furious,” Diaz recounted. “So I waited for him to come out there and I went to get him again and he ran off.

“I shouldn’t have done that. It was reckless, it was stupid. I was mad, but he was picking on me. So now he’s trying to act like ‘Mr Make It Right’. ‘I’m Mr Good, this guy’s a piece of s***, I don’t need this trash talk’. Whatever, you were gonna pick on me … trying to act like the victim, that Conor [McGregor] was picking on him.”

Needless to say, there is quite a bit of bad blood between Diaz and Nurmagomedov. Surprisingly, however, Diaz has no interest in fighting the undefeated Russian, who currently holds the UFC lightweight title. He feels he’s already proven his dominance over his rival.

“No, I was when it was interesting, now it’s like kicking a dead dog,” he said of a fight with Nurmagomedov.

What do you think of this story from Nate Diaz?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/30/2019.