UFC 279 live blog: Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson

This is the UFC 279 live blog for Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson, the welterweight main event fight in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Two of the UFC’s biggest fan favorites, Diaz and Ferguson find themselves matched up in an impromptu headliner following Diaz’s originally scheduled opponent Khamzat Chimaev missing weight by over seven pounds for their bout. After a shuffling of UFC 279’s top-three fights, Ferguson was promoted from the co-main event to fight Diaz, while Chimaev was moved to a 180-pound catchweight bout with Kevin Holland.

Diaz heads into the last fight of his UFC contract after competing for the organization for the past 15 years. He seeks his first win since August 2019, a unanimous decision nod over former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. Diaz’s UFC record stands at 15-11.

Ferguson, 15-5 in the UFC, is also winless since 2019. Following a doctor stoppage TKO of Donald Cerrone that ran his win streak to 12 straight fights, Ferguson went on to lose his next four including high-profile bouts against Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, and Beneil Dariush. In his most recent outing, Ferguson was on the wrong end of a “Knockout of the Year” candidate when he was finished by Michael Chandler at UFC 274.

Check out the UFC 279 live blog below.