Diaz Bashes ‘Little Leaguer’ Khamzat For UFC 279 Fallout

Nate Diaz may have seen his main event matchup with Khamzat Chimaev go up in flames for UFC 279, but the Stockton native is still counting on a fight with Chimaev outside of the cage. Diaz was expected to fight Khamzat in the headliner before “Borz” badly missed weight Friday morning and was forced out of the matchup. UFC officials pulled off a last-second audible and somehow kept the card in tact, resulting in Diaz now taking on Tony Ferguson in the main event.

While the last-second shakeup may be something that would disrupt the psyche of most fighters Diaz is taking it in stride. After all, Diaz is expected to make his final walk to the Octagon on Saturday night and is simply looking to satisfy the last fight on his current UFC contract. The UFC veteran was willing to fight just about anyone to get that done.

Following yesterday’s UFC 279 ceremonial weigh ins (watch HERE), Diaz caught up with UFC’s Megan Olivi to share his thoughts on his new main event showdown with “El Cucuy” and his final thoughts on Khamzat.

“It’s all a mess, it’s f—king irritating,” said Diaz. “I trained for Khamzat. I don’t even know how to fight this guy. I’m going to watch a video tonight, but it don’t matter anyway. I train for everybody, always, anyways. I don’t train for fights anymore. I just train to fight everybody, always. Ready for war.

“It for sure makes me happy, though, that I’m not supporting the bullshit that they’ve been trying to push on me the whole time. This guy is a little leaguer playing in the major leagues. He found out he didn’t belong. I’ll never fight [Khamzat Chimaev] in [the Octagon], but I’ll fight him right now if I could f—kin’ find his bitch ass.”

Be sure to catch the action later tonight (Sat., Sept. 10, 2022) at UFC 279 live on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It may be the last time we see Diaz compete inside the Octagon.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 279 fight card, starting with the early UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET as well as the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET by clicking HERE. That’s followed by the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV with live results and play-by-play action RIGHT HERE.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 279 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the complete UFC 279 fight card and PPV lineup click here.