Chimaev and Nate Diaz have signed a contract for a welterweight title fight at UFC 279 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. The non-title middleweight limit is 171 pounds and Chimaev weighed in at 178.5 pounds. Diaz was 171 pounds. As of late Friday morning, the status of the biggest fight on the pay-per-view card was very much in jeopardy. 2 Related To further complicate matters, this was supposed to be the final fight on the fan favorite Diaz’s UFC contract and he would be free after this weekend. It is unclear what would happen contractually if Diaz, 37, does not compete on Saturday. Chimaev, 28, is one of the UFC’s biggest rising stars and was a -1,000 favorite, according to Caesars Sportsbook. The UFC essentially shut down this fight to get Chimaev a fight with a big star in Diaz that he was supposed to win. Chimaev has had a strange week. He had a verbal spat with middleweight Paulo Costa on Wednesday at the UFC Performance Institute, and on Thursday, before the UFC 279 press conference, Chimaev clashed with Kevin Holland, who is on the UFC 279 card and was scheduled to fight Daniel Rodriguez. . Chimaev kicked Holland during the match. The press conference was eventually cancelled. When Chimaev weighed in Friday morning, he shrugged and showed no remorse for the huge loss. Later, she posted a meme joking about her weight loss on Twitter. The co-main event fighters both made weight for UFC 279. Tony Ferguson and Li Jingliang each weighed in at 170.5. Holland was 179.5 pounds and Rodriguez was 179 for their match at 180 pounds.
