LAS VEGAS - The UFC has completely shuffled the top three fights on its UFC 279 card, one day before the scheduled pay-per-view event, UFC president Dana White told SportsCenter in a live Instagram video.
Nate Diaz will now face Tony Ferguson in the main event of Saturday's show. Diaz's original opponent Khamzat Chimaev missed weight by 7.5 pounds Friday morning, coming in at 178.5 pounds for a 171-pound limit bout. Diaz understandably chose not to fight such an overweight opponent.
Chimaev's weight miss caused a chain reaction. The UFC spent the entire morning and afternoon negotiating with all six camps for these changes.