Want to see what the wild last-minute UFC 279 fight shuffle looked like from Nate Diaz’s perspective? A new video from his camp documents all the fight week shenanigans.
Interested in seeing the controlled chaos that was Nate Diaz’s final week as a UFC fighter? Well, we have good news for you, as Nate has just uploaded a 26-minute ‘Road 2 War’ video documenting all the drama leading up to and following UFC 279: Diaz vs. Chimaev.
Of course, Diaz vs. Chimaev never actually took place. Khamzat Chimaev blew his weigh-in, coming in several pounds over the welterweight limit. That led to the UFC shuffling the card, putting Nate Diaz against Tony Ferguson and Khamzat Chimaev against Kevin Holland. Both Khamzat and Nate left Las Vegas with wins on their record, and now Nate Diaz is a free agent.
This video compilation sheds some light on Diaz’s demeanor through all the turmoil. It features a little extra footage from the infamous canceled UFC 279 press conference, including some shots of Nate’s extensive crew throwing water bottles at Chimaev. As many have noted, the situation hardly seemed as chaotic as the Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor press conference brawl. Perhaps that’s thanks to UFC security, who were quick to push the literal busload of Team Diaz members out the side door.
Back at Nate Diaz’s rented Las Vegas mansion, music blares as the Stockton fighter sweats out the pounds to make welterweight. The next morning Nate is at the sauna shaving off those last stubborn pounds. As he heads to the official commission weigh-ins, cameras catch him on a call to his manager Zach Rosenfield.
“I said ‘Go get Tony Ferguson ready, we’ll fight Tony Ferguson.’” Rosenfield said before adding “Keep your cut going.”
“Now I gotta learn how to fight Tony Ferguson,” an annoyed Nate replies.
That’s all the behind-the-scenes we get on the opponent switch. Nate hits up the ceremonial weigh-ins and then is off to a Motley Crue concert, where he scopes out videos of Ferguson on YouTube. The video ends with Diaz and Tommy Lee taking a bunch of selfies together.
While the video doesn’t dwell on the extraordinary circumstances that completely switched up UFC 279 at the last-minute, it does show Nate Diaz moving calmly through the chaos, accepting whatever has to be done to leave Las Vegas a free man.
Considering the odds of victory coming into his original fight against Khamzat Chimaev, things couldn’t have gone much better for the Stockton fighter.