UFC president Dana White was effusive in his reward of Nate Diaz throughout UFC 279 struggle week. If one didn’t know higher, White’s claims that he and the UFC wished Diaz nothing however the perfect in his future endeavors would virtually come throughout as honest and plausible.
Nonetheless, the UFC actions main as much as UFC 279 spoke a lot louder than the empty phrases White provided as soon as the promotion’s plans collapsed below the 7.5 kilos Khamzat Chimaev was chubby when he checked in for his scheduled bout in opposition to Diaz.
Chimaev weight miss prompted a reshuffling of the cardboard. With that, Diaz confronted Tony Ferguson at welterweight and Chimaev met Kevin Holland at a catchweight of 180 kilos. Chimaev ran over Holland, submitting him at 2:13 of the primary spherical and blanking him on the stat sheet. Diaz, in what was his final struggle with the UFC below his now expired contract, compelled Ferguson to faucet on the 2:52 mark of the fourth stanza.
The shake-up of the cardboard allowed Diaz to stroll away with a win and what appeared like honest reward from White. Neither of these issues was within the script the UFC wrote when it initially booked the struggle between Chimaev and Diaz.
What the UFC needed to do was ship Diaz out of the promotion with a devastating defeat. The aim was to have Chimaev demolish Diaz within the octagon and devalue his identify on the free market.
Seeing what Chimaev did to Holland, the percentages are good that he would have defeated Diaz in an identical — if no more — dreadful method. That outcome would have supplied White the chance to sit down on the dais on the post-fight press convention and gleefully stomp on Diaz’s identify and repute.
It’s not onerous to think about White saying one thing about it being time for Diaz to retire and the way his report since 2016 and his UFC 279 efficiency confirmed that doesn’t belong among the many elite of the UFC.
Chimaev, by lacking weight, prevented the UFC’s dastardly, despicable and soiled plan from enjoying out. Simply because that plan didn’t come to fruition doesn’t imply it wasn’t the aim.
One factor Chimaev didn’t stop was the message the promotion despatched to different identify fighters who would possibly toy with the thought of being as audacious as Diaz about testing free company. That message was clearly despatched. In case you inform us you’re going to depart the promotion earlier than your final struggle with us, be ready to stroll out the door below the worst attainable circumstances.
