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UFC superstar Nate Diaz was joined by his older brother Nick Diaz at the ceremonial weigh-ins for UFC 279.
Diaz had a sudden change of opponents when top-ranked welterweight Khamzat Chimaev failed to make weight at the official weigh-ins this past Friday morning. Chimaev came in seven and a half pounds heavier at 178.5 pounds, missing the 171-pound nontitle fight limit by a mile. UFC worked quickly to save the pay-per-view card from falling apart and got to work on negotiating with the fighters on the card.
Fan favorite Tony Ferguson emerged as the frontrunner to replace Chimaev, and the new main event between Diaz and him got announced by Dana White while hosting a live stream on Instagram.
During the ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday evening, Diaz walked out to face off against Ferguson in front of a roaring crowd with his brother Nick, a former Strikeforce, WEC, and IFC welterweight champion.
The Stockton native issued a fiery statement targeting former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Chimaev.
“Tony has been around a long time we should have fought a long time ago,” said Diaz via MMA Mania. “Khabib’s bitch-ass is afraid of him just like this bitch-ass motherf—ker is afraid of me. Yesterday we punked his bitch ass in the back here and now he don’t know how to make weight.
“You guys already know what it is. Real G’s come from California, America, motherf—ker.”
White Explained His Reasons Behind Canceling the Presser
White was forced to cancel Thursday’s pre-fight UFC 279 press conference after Chimaev got into an altercation with Kevin Holland that spilled over involving Diaz’s camp. Holland will now face Chimaev in a catchweight bout on the main card.
Following the incident, White detailed his reasons for pulling the plug on the presser for the first time ever.
“When you know that you have guys that don’t like each other, you make sure that they’re isolated, you have plenty of security around,” White explained via MMA Fighting. “You know how Nate and Khamzat are, they could have some words and we have enough people here to deal with it.
“What we didn’t have enough people for was everybody to start fighting. When everybody starts fighting and there was more than just fighting going on that security was dealing with. We weren’t prepared.”
Diaz Launched His Own Fight Promotion ‘Real Fight Inc.’
Ahead of his highly anticipated return to action this weekend, Diaz announced the launch of his fight promotion company called ‘Real Fight Inc.’ His team shared a statement with MMA Fighting explaining his vision for the company that will not only host MMA bouts, but also boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
“Nate will be applying for his promoter’s license in the coming weeks to form Real Fight, Inc., a new promotion that will focus on promoting combat sports shows, specifically boxing, MMA, and BJJ. The new venture has no bearing on his status as a fighter, where he will continue to be very active.
“Real Fight, Inc. is his expansion into the business side of the sport where he has been a fixture for close to 20 years. The promotion will look to attract fighters from around the world, whether it be up-and-coming prospects or household names who fit the brand of “Real Ninjas. Real Fighters. Real Shit.”
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