Nate Diaz Vs Khamzat Chimaev Becomes The Main Duel For UFC 279, Moves Ijamain Sterling VS TJ Dillashaw

JAKARTA - Originally, UFC 279 was scheduled to host the welterweight title race between champion Aljamain Sterling and former champion and challenger TJ Dillashaw. However, everything changed today.

According to ESPN, Tuesday, UFC 279's main fight will be a beltless middleweight fight between Nate Diaz and Khamzat Chimaev on September 10 in Las Vegas.

The fight will mark the end of Nate Diaz's career in the UFC, as the American will be making his final fight on contract and not hiding his desire to leave the organization amid conflicting relationships with Dana White.

The information, based on a statement from UFC business manager Hunter Campbell, the two fighters have received this fight agreement verbally.

Khamzat Chimaev is the number three middleweight category fighter. At the age of 28, the Sweden-based Russian boxer has an unbeaten record with 11 wins in 11 fights.

He has only five fights in the UFC but has become one of the top stars of the UFC. After ending his first four opponents in the first or second round, Chimaev's final fight was the toughest, as he defeated Gilbert Durinho by unanimous decision.

Meanwhile, Nate Diaz (37) has a record of 20 wins and 13 losses in MMA. The highlight of his career was two fights against Conor McGregor, with one win for each side and a ranking record.

In 2007, Nate was the TUF 5 lightweight champion. Three years later, the American moved to the middleweight division, but soon returned to the lightweight division and even fought for the belt in 2012, when he lost to Ben Henderson.

After that, the only belt he fought for was BMF in 2019, when he was removed by Jorge Masvidal by medical decision.

Here is the full schedule for UFC 279 on September 10, 2022, in Las Vegas (US):

Middleweight: Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz

Light heavyweights: Trey Ogden vs. Daniel Zellhuber

Light-Heavyweight: Nikolas Motta vs. Cameron VanCamp

Featherweight: Norma Dumont vs. Danielle Wolf

Heavyweight: Jailton Malhadinho vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov

Strawweight: Elise Reed vs Melissa Martinez

Middleweight: Trevin Giles vs. Louis Cosce

Welterweight: Irene Aldana vs. Macy Chiasson

Welterweight: Chad Anheliger vs Heili Alateng