UFC 279 fight card: Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson slated as new main event amid massive reshuffle

UFC 279 underwent a historic makeover on Friday evening. The scheduled main event of Nate Diaz vs. Khamzat Chimaev will no longer take place after Chimaev missed weight by 7.5 pounds. UFC president Dana White announced late Friday that Diaz will now take on Tony Ferguson in the main event, also scheduled for five rounds. Ferguson was originally scheduled to fight Li Jingliang, which has caused massive changes to the main card, set to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

In addition to Diaz vs. Ferguson, White announced that Chimaev will now take on Kevin Holland at a catchweight of 180 pounds and Jingliang will take on Daniel Rodriguez (originally set to face Holland) also at a catchweight of 180.

Diaz and Ferguson both made welterweight, opening the door for a booking between them after Diaz reportedly said that he was unwillingly to fight an opponent who missed weight. The pair of veterans made their names as lightweights, but have struggled in recent outings. Ferguson was moving up to 170 after enduring a four-fight losing skid at lightweight. Diaz, meanwhile, has campaigned at 170 pounds in his last five fights dating back to 2016, but he holds a 2-3 record in those contests.

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“It’s been a hell of a night and a hell of a morning,” White said in an interview with ESPN. “It’s not by coincidence that we stack guys the same weight on the same card in case anything goes wrong, but yeah, it worked out.

“Obviously, when something like this happens, you got guys that trained for another guy for a long time. Getting these guys to agree to different fights can be a little tough sometimes, but we got ’em all done, they’re locked in.”

Holland was originally scheduled for a 180-pound catchweight and was already in the ballpark of Chimaev’s weight. Li hit the scales at 171 for his welterweight fight; meanwhile, Rodriguez touched down at 179 for his catchweight bout.

The Chimaev-Holland match-up has plenty of heat behind it. The two parties and their respective camps reportedly got into a physical altercation on Thursday, leading to the cancellation of the UFC 279 pre-fight press conference. Chimaev and Holland had repeatedly traded barbs in the months leading up to Saturday’s event.

One of the predominant storylines heading into UFC 279 was that White and company were feeding Diaz to Chimaev on the veteran’s way out of the promotion. The cult hero Diaz has publicly and repeatedly demanded out of his UFC contract. Chiamev was building steam towards superstar status prior to the weight miss. Ironically, Diaz recently claimed that UFC rejected his request for a fight against Ferguson.