Nate Diaz Will Fight Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279
Nate Diaz will fight Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279, according to a report from ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. The fight has been verbally agreed upon, but the fighters have yet to contractually agree. At the moment, it’s listed as the pay-per-view main event. UFC 279 will take place on Sept. 10 in Las Vegas, Nev. at T-Mobile Arena. This announcement is coming off the heels of Diaz saying that he would like to fulfill the final fight on his contract and leave the UFC.
Diaz only has one fight left on his UFC contract and is pleading for a fight. He finally got his wish with the bout against Chimaev. Assuming Diaz does not re-sign, he will be a free agent after the bout. The matchmaking for Diaz makes it evident they are willing to let him walk. Since Diaz is a star, they paired him up with Chimaev, a young fighter with championship potential. Essentially, the UFC is looking to raise the stock of “Borz” while lowering Diaz’s as he walks out the door. Chimaev even called the fight “Diaz’s UFC funeral.” With that being said, he will still have to go get a win if he wants to reach UFC stardom.
Chimaev is currently 11-0 with five of those wins coming in the UFC. Most notably, he defeated Gilbert Burns to cement his spot in the upper echelon of the welterweight division. On the other hand, Diaz is 20-13 and has dropped three of his last four. However, Diaz has picked up wins over legends like Conor McGregor, Anthony Pettis, and the recently retired Donald Cerrone. Combine those wins with his exciting style and unforgiving personality and he remains a fan favorite.
This fight was not hard to predict. I wrote a post looking at some potential opponents for Diaz and I thought this fight was a possibility. However, the surprising aspect of this fight is that it will headline a pay-per-view. In most cases, the UFC has title fights serve as headliners unless McGregor is involved. At the same time, the UFC can make it work. Diaz is a star, and the fight can be promoted as his last UFC fight.
This bout will cause a domino effect of UFC fight bookings. A bantamweight title fight between Aljamain Sterling and TJ Dillashaw was supposed to headline UFC 279, but that is obviously no longer the plan. Sterling said he has had issues in negotiations and the fight had yet to be signed. As a result, the bout will either be a co-main on UFC 279 or it will be moved to a later date. The former is unlikely as title fights rarely are co-main events to non-title fights. Instead, the date of the fight will likely be moved. UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden in November is the most plausible outcome in that scenario as Sterling trains out of New York and he has expressed interest in fighting on that card.
With the possibility of Sterling and Dillashaw off UFC 279, the UFC will be looking to add more fights to the card. At the moment, UFC 279 only has seven fights and it would need some bigger names or more ranked fights to create a solid pay-per-view card.
