There’s a scene within the basic ’90s comedy “Dumb and Dumber” through which Lloyd, having straight-up traded their one-of-a-kind canine van in trade for a minibike, pulls as much as a hitchhiking Harry in hopes of getting the pair’s misguided cross-country trek to Aspen, Colo., again on monitor — after Lloyd took a flawed flip and received the dimwitted buddies approach astray.
“Simply once I assume you couldn’t be any dumber, you go and do one thing like this,” Jeff Daniels’ apparently-still perturbed Harry growls at his pal, earlier than the beautiful 180-turn, “and completely redeem your self!”
And that sums up fairly neatly the best way just about all the fight sports activities world felt about how the monumental weight miss from headliner Khamzat Chimaev reshuffled Saturday night time’s UFC 279 lineup on the fly Friday afternoon. The gargantuan gaffe led to one thing a lot, rather more compelling.
What had as soon as appeared as an obvious squash match between Chimaev, the mauling wrestler from Chechnya with limitless potential, and needle-moving however wrestling-deficient celebrity Nate Diaz grew to become essentially the most wise reserving of all the combat card. Diaz, unable to face Chimaev after a 7.5-pound whiff on the size made a Nevada State Athletic Fee inexperienced gentle powerful to realize, was paired with Tony Ferguson. Just like the Stockton, Calif., native, “El Cucuy” has been a dependable bringer of violence and elite 155-pounder for the majority of the previous 10 years. (On this case, although, the pair would meet at 170 kilos).
UFC president Dana White, talking with media members after the conclusion of UFC 279, supplied a peek as to how the paying public at T-Cell Area felt concerning the swap.
“Each time the primary occasion adjustments, you may refund tickets,” White defined. “Not solely was not one ticket refunded, the day that each one the craziness was happening, we offered 250 tickets.” He added the sold-out venue netted a $5.67 million gate and that pay-per-view gross sales “killed it.”
On paper, Diaz-Ferguson was an enormous improve in leisure worth for the primary occasion, the bout theoretically meant to lure these casuals who largely know Conor McGregor and his numerous rivals — equivalent to Diaz. From followers to reporters to fellow fighters, loads might see Chimaev-Diaz seemed to be booked solely to ship Diaz into free company with the dented worth of a three-fight slide whereas providing some shine to somebody who’s sticking round. It’s hardly sinister or unprecedented; simply ask any fan of territory-era professional wrestling.
And Diaz-Ferguson delivered the carnage and curiosity sometimes related to a Diaz combat — and that features these of older brother Nick. Ferguson’s shin streamed blood from a checked kick as each males have been joyful to trade on the ft for practically 20 minutes. Diaz supplied his anticipated gestures, like some playful finger-pointing, and threw in a bit of chit-chat with people outdoors the octagon for good measure. He capped the night time with a fourth-round guillotine submission of the previous interim light-weight champion.
“I’m simply right here to get my job achieved,” Diaz (21-13, 17 finishes) stated within the cage afterward. “I had one combat left. I instructed them, after not letting me have fights ceaselessly, give me anyone you bought. And a minimum of I received a worthy, OG consultant of blended martial arts [in Ferguson].”
Curious what the alternate-universe predominant occasion would have seemed like at T-Cell Area? Maybe you watched Chimaev run by Kevin Holland on this universe simply earlier than the primary attraction. The Chechen, who probably faked a glove contact as he shot for a takedown off the bat, put away Holland — like Diaz, weak to wrestling — with a D’Arce choke in simply 2:13. Chimaev (12-0, 11 finishes) landed the one punch of the combat; Holland (23-8, 19 finishes) recorded no strike makes an attempt. Perhaps Diaz would have gotten a Stockton slap in there to spice it up, however onerous to think about Chimaev-Diaz going a lot totally different than Chimaev-Holland.
Quite than a distasteful, deflating finish to this section of Diaz’s profession — he added Saturday night time that he plans to “take over and personal one other sport, such as you’re speculated to do it,” no matter which means — Nate seems nice on his approach out the UFC gate. Wins and losses have achieved little to uninteresting Diaz’s shine anyway, however this was best-case-scenario stuff for a person who simply may have the ability to “kill it” on his personal if, say, he have been to field YouTuber-turned-boxing lightning rod Jake Paul.
There’s no public acrimony between Diaz and UFC brass, with each he and White providing solely thank yous and properly needs. Diaz didn’t shut the door on a return down the road however made clear that he’s not re-signing with the promotion anytime quickly.
It took a village to make — to paraphrase former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, Ferguson’s coach on “The Final Fighter” — hen salad out of hen s–t. At the start, kudos to the fighters for rolling with the punches, with six males — Diaz, Ferguson (25-8, 20 finishes), Chimaev (yeah, even him), Holland, Daniel Rodriguez and Li Jingliang — all agreeing to compete in opposition to opponents they spent zero time getting ready to face. Don’t neglect all of the unsung heroes that make the UFC machine go behind the scenes each week, just like the video producers who cobbled collectively new hype packages with contemporary fights.
And props to the UFC decision-makers who, on try No. 2, received the matchups proper. They may not be pleased with Chimaev, whom the unfilterable Diaz labeled a “b—h-ass rookie” for weighing nearer to middleweight than welterweight on Friday, however by his fight sports activities cardinal sin, he let the UFC completely redeem itself.
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