UFC 279: Nate Diaz to fight Tony Ferguson after Khamzat Chimaev missed weight
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After an afternoon of scrambling to fix the fight card, UFC president Dana White has solved the problems brought on by Khamzat Chimaev missing weight for UFC 279.
White announced his new plan for Saturday night’s fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, which will now be headlined by Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson.
Diaz was supposed to headline the card with Chimaev, and he weighed in at 171 pounds. Chimaev, however, missed weight significantly.
178.5 for @KChimaev. He will have an additional hour to make the weight.
[ #UFC279 | Tomorrow | Live on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/rJY1WZoKAA ] pic.twitter.com/0xTW3aTzwL— UFC (@ufc) September 9, 2022
So instead, Diaz will now fight Ferguson. It will mark the last bout on Diaz’s current UFC contract.
Ferguson was supposed to square off against Li Jingliang on the card on Saturday, and both of those fighters weighed in at 170.5 on Friday.
Now, Chimaev and Kevin Holland will fight instead on the card — something that is sure to be heated after their altercation earlier this week that resulted in a canceled news conference. Holland was going to fight Daniel Rodriguez on the card initially.
Rodriguez and Jingliang will fight to round out the card now, too.
Dana White announced live on Instagram that Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson will now headline #UFC279 with Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kevin Holland as the co-main event 🤯 pic.twitter.com/9s0pDZMoSu
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 9, 2022
Though Chimaev certainly complicated things, White seems to have sorted things out in Las Vegas.