The UFC 279 fight card was in jeopardy after main event fighter Khamzat Chimaev missed weight by 7.5 pounds on Friday night.
Chimaev was scheduled to face Nate Diaz in a five-round welterweight main event bout. However, Chimaev hit the scales at 178.5 pounds, well above the 171 limit for a non-title welterweight fight, and after Diaz weighed in at the 171 limit, there was no chance the fight would proceed. The UFC needed to shuffle the fighters around, and they needed to do it fast, considering that the event is this Saturday night in Las Vegas.
After several hours of silence from the promotion, UFC president Dana White emerged and revealed the new-look UFC 279 main card.
Watch Diaz vs. Ferguson fight live
- Date:Â Saturday, Sept. 10
- Time:Â PPV Main Card starts at 10 pm ET, Prelims start at 6 pm ET
- Watch:Â
ESPN + PPV (order here)
Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson is the main event of the UFC 279 PPV main card. Fans can order UFC 279 on the ESPN+ website to watch every main card fight live, including the Diaz vs. Ferguson fight. After ordering, fans can stream every UFC 279 fight to a preferred device, including TVs, mobiles, computers, laptops, tablets, and more.
New UFC 279 fights
- Main event:Â Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson (five rounds)
- Co-main event: Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kevin Holland (five rounds)
- Main card:Â Li Jingliang vs. Daniel Rodriguez
Tony Ferguson will move up into the main event slot to fight Nate Diaz in a five-round fight. Ferguson was originally scheduled to face Li Jingliang at welterweight.
Khamzat Chimaev remains on the card following his botched weight cut and will fight Kevin Holland, who weighed in at 179.5 tonight. Holland was scheduled to fight Daniel Rodriguez on the main card. This fight will be for five rounds.
Li Jingliang and Daniel Rodriguez lost their original UFC 279 fights, but they’ll now fight each other after Li Jingliang agreed to the fight despite weighing almost nine pounds less than Rodriguez.
Fans could argue that the new-look UFC 279 fight card is even better than before. Chimaev was heavily favored to defeat Diaz, and Jingliang was favored to beat Ferguson. But now, we’ve got a few very exciting and competitive fights ready.
Updated UFC 279 fight card
Saturday, Sept. 10 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
Main Card – 10:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT only onÂ
- Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson
- Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kevin Holland
- Li Jingliang vs. Daniel Rodriguez
- Irene Aldana vs. Macy Chiasson
- Johnny Walker vs. Ion Cutelaba
Prelims – 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT on ESPN+
- Hakeem Dawodu vs. Julian Erosa
- Jailton Almeida vs. Anton Turkalj
- Denis Tiuliulin vs. Jamie Pickett
- Jake Collier vs. Chris Barnett
Early Prelims– 6:30 pm ET / 3:30 pm PT on ESPN+
- Norma Dumont vs. Danyelle Wolf
- Chad Anheliger vs. Alateng Heili
- Melissa Martinez vs. Elise Reed
- Darian Weeks vs. Yohan Lainesse