Nate Diaz isn’t giving Islam Makhachev that all-time-great crown without seeing more. Even after Makhachev made history at UFC 322, Diaz believes the Dagestani star still has work to do.
Makhachev walked out of Madison Square Garden as a two-division UFC champion after dominating Jack Della Maddalena to claim the welterweight belt. He already set a record in the lightweight division with four title defenses and now sits on a 16-fight promotional winning streak, tied with Anderson Silva for the longest in UFC history. Still, Nate Diaz isn’t impressed.
“They just throw s—t out like that. He’s been there for like two minutes. He ain’t beat no one that great,” Diaz said during a stream with N3on. “The best lightweight ever was B.J. Penn. B.J. Penn beat Matt Hughes, … beat [Georges St-Pierre’s] ass and lost. So when you’ve got s—t like that and whatever Islam did, that don’t even match.”
Their tension goes back to December 2024 when both teams got into a heated bottle-throwing moment ahead of a UFC press event. But for Diaz, this isn’t personal beef — it’s about the style. He’s never liked the wrestling-heavy approach made famous by Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“Not that he [Makhachev] can’t be and won’t be though, but you’re just going to throw GOAT at the motherf—-er when he just showed up on the scene?” Diaz said. “They think I’m hating because we’ve got our differences, but there’s just s—t I’ve seen that I remembered forever, and I ain’t seen nothing from them motherf—-ers. I can’t even remember anything but getting bored in all them fools’ last fights.”
While he questioned Makhachev’s GOAT credentials, Diaz had praise for Ilia Topuria, the knockout artist who has collected belts at lightweight and featherweight.
“I think he’s a more complete fighter, good fighter, though,” Diaz said. “You’ve got to just think of shit that you have to tune in for. Remember B.J. Penn vs. Takanori Gomi? I couldn’t wait for that fight to happen.”
At UFC 322, Makhachev strengthened his argument for the pound-for-pound No. 1 spot with another dominant performance. But with Topuria and Alex Pereira also sitting as two-division champions, and Merab Dvalishvili chasing his fourth defence at UFC 323, the race at the top is crowded.
Even with all of Makhachev’s success, Nate Diaz still believes the GOAT talks are premature.
“They just throw that shit out like that,” Diaz said on N3on’s Twitch. “Like, he’s been here for, like, two minutes and he ain’t beaten nobody that’s great. The best lightweight ever was B.J. Penn. B.J. Penn was beating up Matt Hughes and [Georges-St-Pierre]—did he beat ‘GSP?’ No, he beat his ass, but lost. So when you get shit like that and you’ve got whatever Islam did, it’s like, that don’t even match. Not that he can’t be and won’t be, though. But you’re just going to throw GOAT at a motherf*cker when he just showed up on the scene.”
Makhachev continues Khabib’s legacy with a dominant style built on pressure and control, but Diaz argues that dominance doesn’t equal excitement and excitement matters when you’re being labelled the best ever.
“They think I’m fcking just hating because we’ve got our differences, but there’s shit that I’ve seen that I just remember forever and that’s GOAT shit,” Diaz said. “I ain’t seen nothing from them motherfckers. I can’t even remember anything but getting bored in all them fools’ last fights, so that name shouldn’t even be thrown at those guys.”
When asked who he believes is the true pound-for-pound king, Diaz didn’t hesitate.
“Jon Jones, for sure,” he said.
