UFC 279: Nate Diaz to cross swords with Tony Ferguson after Khamzat Chimaev misses weight

The MMA world has witnessed significant drama in the last two days, in the build-up to the UFC 279 pay-per-view (PPV) event. The PPV was headlined earlier by the Khamzat Chimaev vs Nate Diaz fight, with fans expecting it to be Diaz’s final appearance at the UFC octagon. However, Chimaev missed the weight by nearly eight pounds at the official weigh-ins on Friday, which prompted the promotion to do a significant reshuffle on Saturday’s main card. The show must go on!!! 🔥 [ #UFC279 | Tomorrow | 10pmET | Live on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/8uiusbcc5r ] pic.twitter.com/LLe1rsQqMj — UFC (@ufc) September 9, 2022 UFC 279 Main Event: Nate Diaz vs Tony Ferguson While Diaz was going to fight Chimaev in the welterweight bout, he will now fight against veteran superstar Tony Ferguson. The match comes as welcome news for fans, as most of them wanted the vintage pairing of Diaz and Ferguson in the main event of UFC 279. At the same time, Chimaev will now lock horns with Kevin Holland in the co-main event, whereas, Ferguson’s previous opponent, Li Jingland will fight against Daniel Rodriguez, who was earlier supposed to fight against Holland. The main event we didn't know we needed 👏@NateDiaz209 vs @TonyFergusonXT is closing tomorrow's show! [ #UFC279 | Tomorrow | 10pmET | Live on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/8uiusbcc5r ] pic.twitter.com/I3CApiUFE3 — UFC (@ufc) September 9, 2022 Khamzat Chimaev vs Kevin Holland in co-main event at UFC 279 Meanwhile, this comes a day after Chimaev, Holland, and Diaz were involved in a heated backstage brawl on Thursday, which also included the teams of these three fighters. The official pre-event press conference for UFC 279 was cancelled after the fighters were involved in a physical altercation. The scuffle was understood to be triggered after Holland made comments about Chimaev’s fighting style. Over a year of back & forth culminates with this 👀@KChimaev now faces @Trailblaze2Top TOMORROW NIGHT! [ #UFC279 | Tomorrow | 10pmET | Live on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/8uiusbcc5r ] pic.twitter.com/fPDkyhlxA4 — UFC (@ufc) September 9, 2022 The talking will be done in the Octagon tomorrow night...🤬 #UFC279 pic.twitter.com/qT1UEUVLwf — UFC (@ufc) September 10, 2022 Dustin Poirier approached for the main event of UFC 279 It is pertinent to mention that, UFC star Dustin Poirier was linked with reports claiming that he was willing to step in for a fight at UFC 279 on short notice. It was reported that UFC contacted Poirier to fight against Diaz in the main event. However, with Diaz accepting to fight Ferguson, Poirier and is understood to be on standby. Updated match card for UFC 279 Main Card - Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson (Main event) - Welterweight bout Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kevin Holland (Co-main event) - Catchweight bout Daniel Rodriguez vs. Li Jingliang Irene Aldana vs. Macy Chiasson Ion Cutelaba vs. Johnny Walker Prelims - Hakeem Dawodu vs. Julian Erosa Jailton Almeida vs. Anton Turkalj Jamie Pickett vs. Denis Tiuliulin Chris Barnett vs. Jake Collier Early Prelims - Norma Dumont vs. Danyelle Wolf Heili Alateng vs. Chad Anheliger Melissa Martinez vs. Elise Reed Yohan Lainesse vs. Darian Weeks MMA fans react to the UFC 279 main card reshuffle I was upset at Khamzat earlier but now I have to thank him. I'm glad he was unprofessional! 😂 — Zinfamous (@ZinfamousHD) September 9, 2022 Diaz gets the right opponent. Better main event. Khamzat has lost a lot of respect from the fans. All that talk and he flopped his weight. If he gets dominated by Kevin H then he’s out of the contender pool. — Nasar Ishfaq (@NasarIshfaq) September 9, 2022 After years of wanting this fight and years of simulating this fight on UFC games it’s finally happening 🥲 pic.twitter.com/RDMMenTZTn — bigbootylatino (@KingOfMexicans) September 9, 2022 card switched around for the better, now i’m actually looking forward to saturday night 🔥 — Kevo ❄️ (@IcyKev_) September 9, 2022 You better win tomorrow Khamzat otherwise all the hype, all the momentum, all the fans and the title shot will be gone ! Don’t lose focus Brother ! — Avirudh Kaushik (@AvirudhK) September 10, 2022

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UFC 279: Nate Diaz to cross swords with Tony Ferguson after Khamzat Chimaev misses weight

Know the updated match card for UFC 279, headlined by 'Nate Diaz vs Tony Ferguson' in the main event, 'Khamzat Chimaev vs Kevin Holland' in the co-main event.

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