Nate Diaz will now face Tony Ferguson in the main event of Saturday’s show at the T-Mobile Arena. Diaz’s original opponent, Khamzat Chimaev, missed 7.5 pounds Friday morning, moving up to 178.5 pounds for a 171-pound limit fight. Diaz, understandably, chose not to fight such an overweight opponent. White said Tsimaev began to buckle and lock up during his weight cut. “It’s no accident that we stack guys of the same weight on the same sheet in case something goes wrong. It worked,” White said. “Getting these guys to agree to different fights can be a little difficult at times. We’ve got it all going. We’re locked in.”
1 Related Chimaev’s misplaced weight caused a chain reaction. The UFC spent the entire morning and afternoon negotiating with all six camps about these changes. Changes at this level so close to a UFC card are unprecedented. Ferguson, a fan favorite like Diaz, was scheduled to fight Li Jingliang in the co-main event on Saturday. Ferguson weighed 170.5 kg for this fight. Diaz vs. Ferguson will be five rounds. Diaz was scheduled for five rounds with Chimaev, but Ferguson vs. Lee would only be three. Ferguson agreed to fight Diaz for five rounds. “Nate Diaz and Tony, fans have wanted to see that forever,” White said. “It’s going to happen now before Nate leaves the UFC. He couldn’t have played better.” Now, Chimaev will face Kevin Holland in the co-headliner of UFC 279. Holland’s original opponent was scheduled to be Daniel Rodriguez in a 180-pound catchweight bout. Holland weighed in Friday morning at 179.5 pounds. Holland-Chimaev will also be a five-round fight. Lee, who weighed in at 170.5kg on Friday, will now fight Rodriguez. There will be a big weight difference, as Rodriguez came in at 179 pounds. Chimaev, 28, is one of the UFC’s biggest rising stars and was a -1,000 favorite against Diaz, 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 expected to win. Diaz is in the final fight of his UFC contract and has stated that this will be his last fight with the promotion, at least for now. 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, he came to blows with Holland, who he will now fight. Chimaev kicked Holland during the backstage showdown. 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 on Twitter poking fun at her weight loss.
