Nate Diaz scored a fourth-round goal against Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 on Saturday, winning the final bout of his UFC deal in a wild bout that ended an unusual week for the UFC.
A backstage brawl caused Thursday’s press conference to be cut short, and cards were shuffled Friday morning when Khamzat Chimaev missed the weight class limit for the proposed main fight against Diaz.
That miss forced a reshuffle as Ferguson stepped up to meet Diaz while Chimaev took on Kevin Holland and Li Jingliang played against Daniel Rodriguez, but the scheduled main event did not disappoint.
Diaz, 37, picked Ferguson the lead in the first three innings before taking a guillotine in the fourth to end the fight in front of a sold-out crowd at T-Mobile Arena.
Fan favorite from Stockton, California opened a cut above Ferguson’s right eye in the second as his precision boxing began to tell.
Ferguson fought back, chopping Diaz’s lead leg to slow him down, but Diaz was still able to ground his combo to force the opponent back and he played with the crowd, walking around the cage. and rely on it to rest.
Ferguson knocked in the fourth round but Diaz, who let Conor McGregor deliver the Irishman in his first UFC loss in 2016, put his arm around Ferguson’s neck and pulled him to the ground to win.
“I want to leave the UFC for a minute and show these UFC fighters how to take over and own another sport.. I’ll go out there, take over another profession… and then I’ll shoot right here to get a UFC title,” Diaz said in the octagon.
The Chechnya-born Swede Chimaev was booed when he entered the octagon but after the battle was going on he wasted no time, opened fire to take it down and started a serious scuffle ends in his favor.
The 28-year-old dominated the Netherlands on the carpet before securing the win by locking down suffocating Darce and forcing his opponent to touch the score 2:13 in the first round, much to the dismay of the crowd. .
“I’m the most dangerous here. I come for everyone. I kill everyone, I’ll go through everyone, no one can stop me!” a defiant Chimaev roared during his post-match interview as boos from the stands fell.
