The UFC returns to the fight capital of the world when UFC 279 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday 10th September for Khamzat Chimaev vs Nate Diaz.
A 170-pound contest between two contenders at the opposite ends of their career is sure to attract plenty of attention, with the undefeated Chimaev on the verge of a title shot while fan favorite Diaz looks to spoil the party.
We'll take a look at the fight, break it down and provide our best free UFC betting picks for the main event clash to see if we can earn you some extra cash while you watch an absolute barnstormer of a fight.
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UFC 279 Information
- Saturday, September 10th, 2022
- T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Main card starts 10pm ET
- Welterweight (170 pounds) bout
- 5 x 5 minute rounds
Khamzat Chimaev vs Nate Diaz
A long-awaited grudge match between Chimaev and Diaz is set to be one of the most eagerly anticipated bouts of the year, but for reasons other than what is going to happen in the octagon during this fight.
Chimaev has become a fan favorite and stormed his way up the UFC rankings, going 5-0 in the octagon since making his debut in the summer of 2020. He dominated John Phillips on his debut to earn a second-round submission before pounding Rhys McKee in the first round of their fight just nine days later to earn a referee stoppage.
'Borz' followed that up with a 17-second knockout win over Gerald Meerschaert six weeks after that, before a bout with COVID saw him sit out most of 2021. He returned with a dominant first-round submission win over Li Jingliang at UFC 267 and then really caught everyone's attention with the fight of the year contender against Gilbert Burns at UFC 273, where he claimed a unanimous decision win.
Diaz on the other hand, has had a rollercoaster few years where his popularity soared after his epic encounters with Conor McGregor back in 2016. He won one of those and lost the other, and since then has only fought three times amid contract disputes with the company.
He claimed a dominant decision win over Anthony Pettis after a three-year break back in 2019 but most recently suffered one-sided defeats to Jorge Masvidal at UFC 244 and Leon Edwards at UFC 263. This is his first fight since June 2021.
Chimaev's professional record in mixed martial arts stands at 11-0 with six knockout wins and four submissions, and he is currently ranked as the number 3 welterweight in the UFC.
Diaz's professional record in mixed martial arts stands at 20-13, with five knockouts and 11 submission wins, while ten of his defeats have come via the judge's scorecards. He is currently unranked in the UFC.
Route to victory
In the cage, this seems like a huge mismatch based on their careers and styles over the last few years.
Chimaev is an incredibly big welterweight who has performed well and looked big against middleweights in the UFC and outside of the UFC too. That shows in the way he fights, with relentless pressure on his opponents that sets up incredibly powerful strikes or elite wrestling.
The Swedish fighter is likely to try and keep this fight standing, but realistically he has got the advantage everywhere this goes because he's naturally the much bigger and stronger guy.
He is the better wrestler and better striker on the feet with more power and precision, so it's no shock that he is a huge -1500 favorite to win the fight.
But Diaz is no walkover and has got elite skills too. His gas tank is deeper than most people in the UFC, having trained for years in triathlons, while his boxing combinations are up there with some of the best we've seen. He would class himself as a jiu-jitsu fighter, though, with excellent technique on the ground and a real threat of finishing the fight even from his back.
His cardio is usually something he weaponizes, growing as fights go on and getting sharper in later rounds, but it will be really tough for him to outwork and outlast Chimaev.
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Smash
Diaz is absolutely not a pushover, but there is no way he wins this fight barring a puncher's chance or a huge error from Chimaev.
Chimaev will be able to dictate exactly where this fight goes and when with his sheer size and the level of his wrestling in comparison to Diaz's. When it comes to the striking, he has a better chance, but Diaz hasn't earned a knockout win since 2013 and that's unlikely to change here.
'Borz' has made a habit of coming out early in fights and going straight in for a takedown to control the fight immediately, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that again here.
Diaz is highly unlikely to get caught in a submission, such is his level of skill on the ground, but Chimaev will be relentless and will eventually start landing heavy blows on the ground to be able to earn a referee stoppage and potentially move on to a title shot, while Diaz likely waves goodbye to MMA.
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