ESPN reports the Welterweight fight has been verbally agreed for a non-title, five-round main event.
Nate Diaz gets his wish. A final fight before his UFC contract comes to an end.
Diaz, a former UFC Lightweight title challenger, and Ultimate Fighter winner has been calling for a fight or the release of his contract for months. The halt in matchmaking for him would seem to be due to the injury of rival Conor McGregor. The pair are 1-1 in their two fights and most presumed the UFC would want the two superstars to meet again to settle the score.
However, with no time frame on McGregor’s return and Nate stating on The MMA Hour, that he didn’t intend on fighting Conor “right now”. The UFC has decided to match him up against undefeated Khamzat ‘Borz’ Chimaev.
Khamzat has an 11-0 record and is fresh off a Fight of the Year contender fight against Gilbert Burns. With the win ‘Borz’ shot up to number three in the Welterweight rankings. Most thought the next likely step for Khamzat would be a title shot or a number one contender fight. Instead he will fight unranked Nate Diaz who is on a two fight losing skid.
One thing Nate has proven in his career is that he is never an easy fight. He causes problems and will fight anyone. His last fight, at UFC 263 he faced Leon Edwards. Diaz rocked Edwards at the end of the fifth round, almost knocking the brit out. Leon will now face Kamaru Usman for the Welterweight title at UFC 278 on August 20th 2022.
The two fighters will meet at UFC 279 which is set to take place on September 10th 2022. The bout is a five round, main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. First reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN.
Does Nate leave the UFC with a win or Will Khamzat show Nate why he’s knocking at the door of a title shot? Let us know who wins in the comments!
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