After facing main event opponent Tony Ferguson at Friday’s UFC 279 weigh-ins, Diaz had a message for his originally scheduled opponent Khamzat Chimaev. “Tony’s been around a long time, we should have fought a long time ago,” Diaz said. “Habib [Nurmagomedov]’sba** was afraid of him just like ba** mom***** was afraid of me yesterday. We punched him in the back here and now he’s not gaining weight. “You already know what it is. Real Gs come from California, America, mother*****.” Diaz and Hamzat were part of a backstage altercation at Thursday’s UFC 279 press conference, which was canceled following the incident. Ferguson was moved from a fight with Li Jingliang to the headliner after Chimaev missed the welterweight limit by 7.5 pounds at Friday’s official weigh-ins. That blunder led to a line-up shuffle that saw Ferguson promoted to the main event opposite Diaz and Chimaev coming into a one-man showdown with Kevin Holland. Both fights are scheduled to be five rounds. For his part, Ferguson was focused solely on the new match. “Get your f****** popcorn and blue Slushees motherf****** because we’re going to have fun!” Ferguson said. Chimaev and Holland had a more tense confrontation as they have a history of bad blood and were also reportedly involved in Thursday’s backstage melee. “It was all for a good reason,” Holland said after facing his new opponent. “All these guys who claim to be gangsters, they’re not gangsters. They wear make-up for the HD cameras and it’s that simple.” Holland was asked if the Chimaev fight was a better fight, to which he replied, “F*** no, but it’ll be fun.” Chimaev was met with a chorus of boos and made no apologies for his incredible weight loss, but claimed he was not allowed to cut more. “They stopped this s***,” Chimaev said before addressing the crowd. “I don’t know, I more wanted to cut this s***. Hey, this is the Chechen mother******, shut up, guys. I’m picking up your boyfriend, I’m dropping him backstage too.” Like Holland, Chimaev was unfazed by the lineup change. “I don’t care, I want to crush them,” Chimaev said. “I come here for everyone, you know? I’ll take over now.” UFC 279 takes place Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
