Nate Diaz submits Tony Ferguson in fourth round of back and forth battle at UFC 279
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, September 10, 2022, for UFC 279, going down live on pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Considering former main eventer Khamzat Chimaev (11-0) missed weight by 7.5 lbs, weighing in at 178.5 lbs despite the 171 lb limit, we had a bit of a change in match ups.
In fact, there are a record six catchweight contests going down tonight.
The Ultimate Fighter season 5 winner Nate Diaz (20-13) was initially slated to face no. 3 ranked Chimaev in the main event, but will now face former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson (25-7) in the five round main event of the evening.
Co-headlining the event was supposed to be Ferguson facing no. 14 ranked welterweight contender Li Jingliang (19-7), and Daniel Rodriguez (16-2) was slated against Kevin Holland (23-7-0-1).
In the aftermath of this, Chimaev will face Holland in the five round co-main event of the evening, and Rodriguez will face Jingliang in tonight’s feature fight, marking the first time ever the UFC put on an event with two five round non-title bouts.
Reverting back to our main event, this is the fight that should’ve been scheduled to begin with.
Both men are long and lanky with 76” reaches, both have incredible five round endurance, both have a tenacious pace with a lot of volume, both end up on their back a good amount, and both are elite black belts in BJJ (Diaz under Cesar Gracie, Ferguson under Eddie Bravo).
This is the fight we needed to see on Diaz’ exit from the promotion!
Ferguson came into the bout on a four-fight losing skid, following a 15-1 start to his UFC run, while Diaz has gone 1-3 over his last four bouts.
Continue reading to see how this epic welterweight main event went down:
Official Result: Nate Diaz def. Tony Ferguson via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:52 of round four
Diaz throws an early kick, which Ferguson catches and and puts him on his back, but neglects to follow him to the mat. Diaz is back to his feet and they’re back to striking range. Both fighters look good throughout the first five minutes, but Diaz would get the edge based on the punches he landed.
Ferguson has a much better round two, as he really starts to mix his kicks in with his punches, particularly his inside leg kick. Diaz is landing some nice leg kicks of his own, as well as some punches at the end of his long combinations.
Ferguson is really starting to effect Diaz badly with that inside leg kick, but Diaz is still moving forward with his boxing. Ferguson’s head movement is working well for him though, and so is his chin, which is surprising considering he suffered one of the worse knockouts in the sports history earlier this spring.
This fight has gotten incredibly competitive, you could make the argument Ferguson is up 2-1 going into the fourth.
Diaz starts to really let go of his hands in the fourth however, and the tides are turning again. Ferguson shoots on a double leg, and Diaz accepts the takedown, as he’s wrapped up a modified guillotine choke and secures the submission finish not long thereafter.
This was a truly epic contest you certainly have to go back and watch if you didn’t.
Nate Diaz secures his tenth submission finish inside the octagon; he submitted his fifth (Junior Assuncao, Alvin Robinson, Kurt Pellegrino, Jim Miller, and now Tony Ferguson) BJJ black belt tonight at UFC 279, and he’s defeated four world champions (Takanori Gomi, Conor McGregor, Anthony Pettis, and again, now Tony Ferguson) in his time with the UFC. He fought for the WEC and UFC lightweight championships, Nate Diaz is a true legend of the game.
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