UFC 279 Restructured to Diaz vs. Ferguson Headliner, Chimaev-Holland Co-Main

#UFC279 has a new top part of its card, per UFC president Dana White on the @SportsCenter Instagram.

-- Diaz vs. Ferguson
-- Chimaev vs. Holland
-- Li vs. Rodriguez

— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) September 9, 2022

Khamzat Chimaev’s failure on the scales has forced the Ultimate Fighting Championship to scramble in unexpected ways.

On Friday, Chimaev tipped the scales at 178.5 pounds at the early UFC 279 weigh-ins, for 7.5 pounds above the non-title welterweight cap. His headlining matchup against Nate Diaz, who weighed 171 pounds, has been scuttled as a result, as first reported by BJPenn.com. In the new five-round UFC 279 main event, per UFC President Dana White on UFC's Instagram page, Diaz (20-13) will now be squaring off Tony Ferguson (25-7), who also weighed in at welterweight. This event, which remains a pay-per-view will carry on at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Diaz will be looking to get back on track after a pair of defeats at 170 pounds against Jorge Masvidal and future champ Leon Edwards in 2019 and 2021, respectively. The lone win for the Stockton, Calif., native in the last five years came against Anthony Pettis, whom he topped on the scorecards at UFC 241 in 2019. Throughout a UFC career that began by winning the fifth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2007, Diaz has topped the likes of Conor McGregor, Donald Cerrone, Takanori Gomi and Gray Maynard on his way to becoming a fan-favorite.

Ferguson is also looking to right the ship, as he has dropped four fights in a row dating back to 2020. Atop UFC 249, Ferguson faced Justin Gaethje for the interim strap, and he succumbed to a punch in the fifth round to put an end to a 12-fight win streak that included a brief interim championship reign. Ferguson’s unbeaten stretch at that time listed names including Rafael dos Anjos, Pettis, Cerrone and Kevin Lee on his ledger. Both men celebrate career finish rates of 80%. They have, however, combined for exactly one win in their last eight fights.

With Chimaev bumped out of the marquee position, the promotion has shifted the main card around to facilitate his remaining on its billing. After negotiations on Friday, Kevin Holland (23-7, 1 NC) has accepted a 180-pound catchweight match against Chimaev (11-0) in the co-main spot. This comes despite an earlier Instagram Stories post from Holland where he wrote, “New fight terms. I’m only taking the fight [with Chimaev] if it’s [the] main event and five rounds. Other than that, not fighting. Boom, gone.” White has stated that this co-headliner will be a five-round match.

As Ferguson will no longer be facing Jingliang Li, and Holland is not fighting Daniel Rodriguez, the two remaining competitors of Li and Rodriguez were left without opponents. Weighing in within 10 pounds of one another, the organization has decided to match them up for another 180-pound catchweight. When offered, Rodriguez accepted immediately per TSN, although he weighed in at 179 pounds expecting to take on Holland at that weight. White has since confirmed this Li-Rodriguez bout will serve as the “featured fight” on the main card. The previously planned main card matches, a 205-pound opener between Johnny Walker and Ion Cutelaba, and a 140-pound catchweight contest as of Friday between Irene Aldana and Macy Chiasson, will remain as planned on the lineup.