UFC 279 has new face after Chechen star misses weight for main event

Chaos at UFC 279 continued after Khamzat Chimaev missing weight meant the main event and a string of other fights had to be changed to salvage the card.

After the UFC had to cancel a press conference for the first time due to scuffles backstage involving Chimaev and Kevin Holland on Thursday, Chechen-Swede Chimaev then caused further drama by coming 7.5 pounds over the 170lb for his fight with Nate Diaz which his team put down to a "medical issue". 

Former lightweight title challenger Dustin Poirier showed himself to be ready to fly out to Vegas to save the main event if necessary, but quick thinking from White and Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell made that unnecessary.

In short, Diaz will now face Tony Ferguson in a meeting of veteran legends, as Chimaev can settle his beef with Kevin Holland which escalated backstage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Thursday. 

Furthermore, Ferguson's scheduled opponent Li Jingliang will do battle with Daniel Rodriguez, and White later spoke out on the developments in a video the UFC released on Friday.

"Obviously, when something like this happens, you have guys who trained for another guy for a long time. Getting these guys to agree on different [opponents] can be tough," White noted. 

"Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson, the fans have wanted to see this one forever. And it's going to happen now before Nate leaves the UFC. 

"Kevin Holland and Khamzat Chimaev actually got into it backstage yesterday, and ironically they will now fight on Saturday night. Both fights will be five rounds. Li Jingliang versus Daniel Rodriguez is also a fun fight. It literally could not have played out any better," White claimed.

Capping off a week to remember where he also clashed with Paulo Costa in the gym, Chimaev was criticised for his nonchalant attitude when coming in overweight.

Smiling and shrugging his shoulders, he then tweeted a photoshopped snap of himself and close friend Darren Till bloated and blamed his mishap on the scales on the Liverpudlian.

At the face off for his new fight with Holland, the 27-year-old was booed by the crowd who he then stuck his middle finger up at. 

"I don’t know, I wanted more cutting that s***. Hey, this is Chechnya motherf*******, shut up, guys," Chimaev menaced to the masses.

"I f*** your boy up, I f*** him backstage as well," he added.

"I don’t care, I want to smash everybody," Chimaev said about his change of opponent. "I come here [to] f*** everybody, you know? I’m going to take over now," he vowed.

"It all happened for a good reason," claimed Holland after the staredown.

"All these guys claiming they’re gangsters, they’re not gangsters. They wear makeup for the HD cameras and that’s as simple as it is," he went on, in comments that echoed Diaz's.

"You guys already know what it is. Real Gs come from California, America motherf*****," bragged Stockton native Diaz.

READ MORE: UFC scraps press event after Chechen star involved in backstage brawls (VIDEO)

"Tony’s been around a long time, we should have fought a long time ago," Diaz also said, of his new opponent.

"Khabib [Nurmagomedov]’s b****a** was afraid of him just like this b****a** motherf***** [Chimaev] was afraid of me yesterday. We punched his b****a** in the back here and now he doesn’t make weight.

As for Ferguson, he advised MMA enthusiasts to  "grab your f****** popcorn and blue Slushees motherf****** because we’re going to have some fun!"