Cancellation of press conference by UFC president Dana White after backstage brawl
UFC president Dana White cancelled
Thursday’s press conference promoting UFC 279 in Las Vegas before the fight broke out behind the scenes.
White was booed by fans when he announced there would be no press conference.
“All hell broke loose. We stopped it, but we didn’t do a good job to prevent it from happening. I don’t know what happened here. “This has never happened before and we will be ready for the next time,” he said. Sports Illustrated reports that UFC 279 headliner Khamzat Chimaev and main card fighter Kevin Holland have their first fight.
“It’s not just something that explodes and happens. Several things happen at the same time. It’s a complete spectacle as it all just starts .”White said UFC 279 will go ahead as scheduled on Saturday. Chimaev should fight Nate Diaz.
Nate Diaz to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 after Khamzat Chimaev’s contest was cancelled
Nate Diaz will fight Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 279 after missing weight for his scheduled bout with Khamzat Chimaev.
Diaz, 37, is scheduled to face No. 3 heavyweight contender Chimaev in his last fight in the UFC.
Contract, but officials ruled the game later
Chimaev lost 7.5 kilograms of weight. Diaz was there
previously weighed 171 litres and out
Without a UFC main event.
Ferguson, 38, is scheduled to fight Li Jingliang in the main event, with both fighters stepping up to 171lb. When Diaz refused to accept a heavyweight fight with Chimaev, the UFC pulled Ferguson from his fight with Jingliang to take on Diaz in a five-round main event. Meanwhile, Chimaev will take on Kevin Holland, who is set to face Daniel Rodriguez in a five-round clash.
Holland weighed 179.5 kilograms, one pound above Chimaev when he took the match against Rodriguez up to 180 kilograms. Chimaev touched the stage in the Netherlands at a press conference on Thursday, causing a scuffle among more than 100 people, which was later cancelled.
This was Chimaev’s first weight loss in the UFC, and the Chechen did not use the extra hours given to make weight. Chimaev stepped onto the scale with a smile on his face and waved off reporters after reading the official weight. Borz then stepped on the scale and said he was “not bad” despite missing the massive 170lb mark.
Jingliang and Rodriguez will be on the card to fight each other, even though Rodriguez weighs about nine pounds. Jingliang enters the fight on the back of an impressive knockout win against Musulman Salihova after losing to Chimaev last October. Rodriguez is on a three-fight winning streak against The Leech.
Prediction
After a chaotic 48-hour period, leading up to the pay-per-view – the press conference was cancelled due to an onstage brawl, and the originally scheduled headliner Hamzat Chimaev reportedly lost 7.5 pounds. Six fighters remain at the top of Saturday’s card, but everyone has a new dance partner.
Instead of Chimaev, Nate Diaz is now fighting Tony Ferguson in the main event. In the co-main event, Ferguson was scheduled to fight Li Jingliang, but Lee lost against Daniel Rodriguez (although Lee weighed in at 170 pounds for his fight with Ferguson, Rodriguez moved up to 180 pounds) and Chimaev advanced to the main event. along with Kevin Holland.
In any case, while the UFC chose to take the most confrontational path when setting the pay-per-view, the promotion ended up with three more logical pairings than the Chimaev-Diaz match and it can live without meaning and the disappointing Lee-Ferguson match. . You can’t become the most powerful combat sports organization in the world without learning how to come down from the top. Make no mistake, what’s happening here is that UFC fighters are lucky enough to be willing to jump through hoops for it.
It’s likely Diaz’s final fight week with the UFC, so don’t be surprised if there’s another twist before the weekend is over.
Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson
Praise the MMA Gods for giving us the main event we all deserve.
Forget ratings, forget winning streaks and title shots and all that jazz, this is a dream fight for many fans and for good reason: Win or lose, Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson are going to play and the Octagon will be back in time. Share
However, it doesn’t look like Diaz and Ferguson will be hugging and clapping as soon as they leave the field. These two will do whatever it takes to add another major win to their resume, which guarantees fireworks for all of us to watch. Diaz wants to step up to the next level in the sport’s top-level competition, while Ferguson hopes any success will pave the way for at least one more fight.
Ion Cutelaba (-210) vs. Johnny Walker (+160)
Taking part in the bill is a lightweight showdown between Ion Cutelaba and Johnny Walker.
Both men are fighters at heart, but Walker has become too conservative, and Cutelaba’s ferocity can sometimes harm him. That said, Cutelaba has shown some positive growth since she was at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.
I believe SBG product Cutelaba can crack his jaw in the first round if Walker can’t find a sub to match the challenge.
