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Nate Diaz believes that the incidents leading up to the highly-anticipated UFC 279 event on September 10 have been extremely "irritating." The Stockton native described the entire situation as a "mess." Nevertheless, Diaz is self-admittedly glad that in what might be his last UFC fight, he's facing an MMA veteran like Tony Ferguson.
The final fight of Diaz's current UFC contract was scheduled to be a five-round welterweight bout against undefeated Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279. However, Chimaev missed weight by 7.5 pounds at the official UFC 279 weigh-in.
Resultantly, the UFC reshuffled three of the UFC 279 main card's top-tier matchups. The UFC 279 co-headliner was initially a three-round welterweight bout between Li Jingliang and Tony Ferguson, while a 180-pound catchweight bout between Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez was also to be featured on the main card.
Due to Khamzat Chimaev having missed weight, the UFC has now booked Nate Diaz to face Tony Ferguson instead in the UFC 279 event's headliner. During Diaz's latest interview with ESPN MMA, UFC's Megan Olivi asked him whether he's watched Tony Ferguson fight before. He responded by stating:
"At least I don't have to deal with this [Khamzat Chimaev situation]. So, that's 1-0 on him [Chimaev]. So, if I could get through this dude [Tony Ferguson] tomorrow, then that's 2-0 for the weekend. So, this is two for one."
When asked if the Tony Ferguson matchup was more motivating for him than the Khamzat Chimaev fight, Nate Diaz replied by saying:
"It's all a mess. It's f**king irritating. I trained for Khamzat. I don't even know how to fight this guy [Ferguson] here. I'm gonna watch some video tonight. But it don't matter anyway because I train for everybody, always, anyway. I don't train for fights anymore. I just train to fight everybody, always; ready for war."
Watch Nate Diaz discuss the topic at 0:50 in the video below:
Nate Diaz suggests Khamzat Chimaev doesn't deserve to fight him in the octagon
Nate Diaz pulled no punches in his ESPN MMA interview. He insinuated that following the weight debacle, Khamzat Chimaev didn't deserve to fight him in an MMA bout inside the octagon. Instead, Diaz warned that he'd rather face 'Borz' in a street fight scenario right away:
"I'll never fight him [Chimaev] in here. But I'll fight him right now if I could find his bit*ha** here anyway."
As noted, Khamzat Chimaev's missing weight caused the UFC to reshuffle not just the main event but also a couple of other fights. Presently, the Chechen-born Swede is scheduled to fight Kevin Holland in UFC 279 event's five-round co-headliner. Meanwhile, Li Jingliang will clash with Daniel Rodriguez in a three-round fight.
