It’s been 10 years since Nate Diaz and Khabib Nurmagomedov clashed at an MMA event.
Nate Diaz sat behind 12 Dagestani fighters at a World Series of Fighting event in August 2015.
The UFC legend was there to watch his friend, Jake Shields, face Rousimar Palhares in the headliner.
However, all hell broke loose when Khabib Nurmagomedov and co. started to make fun of him.
Khabib Nurmagomedov slap comes back to haunt Nate Diaz
Nate Diaz claimed Khabib Nurmagomedov’s group was taking pictures of him.
Things escalated when he heard them calling him a ‘b—-‘ and laughing amongst themselves.
Diaz stood up and slapped Nurmagomedov across the face, which almost started a riot.
A decade later, he signed up to coach against Jon Jones on Russia’s version of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’.
On Wednesday, it was confirmed that Jones vs Diaz was off after a massive brawl during filming.
Jake Shields has now revealed that Diaz’s slap was at the forefront of their minds heading into a house full of Nurmagomedov’s compatriots.
“Nate and Khabib had a long-standing feud. Nate actually slapped him one time,” he said during a YouTube video recapping his experience on the Russian reality TV show.
“They were at my fight, watching my fight and Khabib was taking pictures, trying to get Nate in the back, trying to make him look like a fool. So Nate walked over and smacked him.
“Personally I have a relationship with Khabib but Nate’s my boy so I have his back”
“So, this long-standing feud has happened. We pull up to the house, walk in the door, and all of a sudden I realize it’s all Chechens and Russians.”
Why did Nate Diaz quit the show?
One fighter, who has supposedly caused some controversy on previous seasons, looked to provoke Diaz and when Shields stepped in to try and send a message to anyone else that tries the same thing, he claims that he was hit by one of the crew members.
As a result, Diaz and his team decided to get out of there, and they didn’t return to film again.
Shields explained: “Once a couple guys tried to blitz me, I’m looking around at, you know, a hundred dudes. It’s like, oh s—, I better deescalate this situation, not get crazy.
“So, at that point, we calmed down, stayed there a little bit longer, but it was just chaos.
“There kept almost being fights, people getting smacked, it was just too much. We started bouncing, they were trying to say we couldn’t leave. We’re just like, ‘Nah, we’re f—— leaving.’”
Team Diaz was stalked by Russian fighters on motorcycles for days after the wild brawl.
Thankfully, there were no more clashes, and everyone emerged from the ordeal relatively unscathed.