LAS VEGAS – The UFC swapped its top three fights for its UFC 279 ticket a day before the pay-per-view event, UFC President Dana White told SportsCenter in a live video on Instagram on Friday.
Nate Diaz will now face Tony Ferguson In the main event of the Saturday show at the T-Mobile Arena. Diaz’s original opponent, Shemaev’s puns, lost 7.5 pounds on Friday morning, hitting 178.5 pounds in a 171-pound bout. Understandably, Diaz chose not to fight such an overweight opponent.
White said Chemayev began cramping and squatting as he lowered his weight.
“It’s no coincidence that we put players with the same weight on the same card in case something goes wrong. It worked,” White said. “Convincing these guys to agree to different fights can be a little difficult at times. We’ve got everything done. We’re trapped.”
Chemayev’s weight loss caused a chain reaction. The UFC spent the entire morning and afternoon negotiating with all six camps for these changes. Modifications at this level so close to the UFC are unprecedented.
He was to fight Ferguson, a fan favorite like Diaz Li Jingliang At the joint main event on Saturday. Ferguson weighed 170.5 pounds for that fight.
Diaz will be against Ferguson five rounds. Diaz was scheduled to have five rounds with Shemayev, but Ferguson against Lee would be just three rounds. Ferguson agreed to fight for five rounds against Diaz.
“Nate Diaz and Tony, fans wanted to see this forever,” White said. “This is going to happen now before Nate leaves the UFC. It couldn’t have been better.”
Now, Chemayev will take over Kevin Holland At UFC 279. The Netherlands’ original opponent is set to be Daniel Rodriguez In a bout weighing 180 lbs. Holland weighed in on Friday morning at 179.5 pounds. Holland-Shemayev will also be a five-round one.
Lee, who weighed 170.5 pounds on Friday, will now fight Rodriguez. There would be a huge weight gap, as Rodriguez weighed in at 179 lbs.
Chimaev, 28, is one of the biggest rising stars in the UFC and was a favorite of the 1000 over Diaz, according to Caesars Sportsbook. The UFC basically booked this fight to get Chimaev’s match with a big star in Diaz that he was expected to win. Diaz is in the final battle for his UFC contract and has indicated that this will be his last game with the promotion, at least for now.
Chimaev has had a strange week. He got into an argument with a medium weight Paulo Costa On Wednesday at the UFC Performance Institute, and the Thursday before the UFC 279 press conference, he got into a skirmish with Holland, which he will now fight. Shemayev kicked Holland during a backstage meeting. The press conference was eventually cancelled.
When Shemayev weighed in on Friday morning, he shrugged his shoulders and showed no remorse for the massive mistake. Later, he posted a meme on Twitter joking about losing weight.
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