UFC 279 was unique before fights even began

The UFC 279 fight week was one of the most unique in the UFC’s history.

On Thursday, the UFC was forced to cancel the pre-fight press conference for the first time ever. The press conference was canceled due to a “chaotic backstage area.” There was a skirmish backstage between Kevin Holland, Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz.

On Friday at the official weigh-ins, things became even more problematic for the UFC as multiple fighters missed weight, including Chimaev, who missed by 8 1/2 pounds. Chimaev was told by a doctor that it was unsafe for him to cut any more weight. With Chimaev out of his main event fight with Nate Diaz, the UFC quickly juggled the main card on Friday afternoon with just 24 hours before the scheduled UFC 279 event.

UFC president Dana White appeared on Friday’s 6 p.m. SportsCenter to announce that Tony Ferguson would face Nate Diaz in the main event, and slide Chimaev down to the co-main event slot to face Kevin Holland add a catchweight of 180 pounds. One can argue that the UFC’s new configuration of the card was better from a depth standpoint. The changes also gave Diaz much more of an opportunity to leave the UFC on a positive note. Whereas against Chimaev, Diaz would’ve almost certainly taking a beating in the new main event between legends, Diaz-Ferguson was a battle of unorthodox striking early on in the fight.

Diaz showcased excellent boxing and pace forcing Ferguson back towards the fence. Ferguson had tremendous success with the inside leg kick. Despite all the success in the stand up for Ferguson, in between the third and fourth round his coaches inexplicably told Ferguson to take the fight to the ground. Ferguson shot right into Diaz’s guillotine, and there was nothing Ferguson could do to escape in a fitting end to this time with UFC — Diaz secured the submission at two minutes and nine seconds in the fourth round. The area code for Stockton, California, Diaz’s hometown is ironically 209.

In his post-fight interview Diaz said “at the end of the day, I love the UFC. Shout out to Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta and Hunter Campbell for giving me the opportunity and the platform for everybody and for myself. I feel like I’ve had the longest career in the UFC and the most successful one. I want to get out of the UFC for a minute and show these UFC fighters how to take over another sport.”

Presumably, Diaz was speaking about boxing. Diaz did not close the door on a put on a potential return to the UFC in the future. White spoke on Diaz’s departure from the company saying “I wish him the best, this is his house. It’s been a blast having him here.”

In the co-main, Chimaev moved to 12-0 in dominant fashion. Chimaev was hunting for a takedown from the start landing one in the opening seconds of the fight. Chimaev controlled all the grappling scenarios, submitting Holland in the first round with a D’arce choke. Saturday marked the fourth time in Chimaev’s career that he did not absorb a single strike in a fight. In his post-fight press conference, White praised Chimaev’s performance calling him “freak of nature.” White also mentioned that the company would like to see Chimaev move up to 185 pounds in light of his weight miss.

At a catchweight of 140 pounds, Irene Aldana survived a roller coaster of a fight with Macy Chaisson and claimed victory in the rarest of ways. After dominating the first round, Aldana spent much of the second in Chaisson’s body triangle. The third round was also going Chaisson’s way with the Louisiana native in top position. From the bottom, Aldana landed a up kick to the liver of Chaisson. The kick seemingly shut Chaisson’s body down. The knockout will likely land Aldana inside the top three in the women’s Bantamweight division.

In the main card opener, Johnny Walker ended his two-fight skid with a submission victory over Ion Cutelaba. Walker executed an inside trip, then transitioned to a rear-naked choke to secure the victory near the end of the first round.

On the prelims, Jailton Almedia and Chris Barnett made the most of their opportunity. Almeida proved once again that he’s one of the top young heavyweights in the promotion with a dominating win over Dana White’s contender series alum Antan Turkaji. Almeida was a perfect three for three on takedown attempts and earned a victory by rear-naked choke.

Barnett is one of the most likable fighters in the UFC. Barnett has had an up and down career. Barnett’s story is an inspirational tale of redemption and perseverance. Just 30 hours before Barnett’s bout with Martin Buday in April, Barnett found out that his wife passed away from her 90-day battle with encephalitis. Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain caused by a viral infection. Saturday was the first time Barnett had been in the octagon since the death of his wife. Barnett was spectacular earning his second UFC win in comeback fashion versus Jake Collier by TKO. Despite not being eligible for a bonus because of a weight miss, White said he would “take care of him.”

One key attribute that the UFC has is the ability to pivot. The UFC’s ability to pivot is front and center when UFC 279 dealt with backstage brawls, critical weight misses and still be able to build a stacked card in 24 hours is remarkable. The hard work paid off for the company as the UFC collected $5.67 million in gate and recorded their 25th consecutive sellout. To any conspiracy theorist that think the UFC orchestrated the wild events of this week, White delivered a message — “if you think the crazy dudes we had here this week could be orchestrated into something, you’re out of your mind.”

At the end of his press conference, a visibly exhausted White said “Thank God tonight’s over.” The world combat sports leader returns Sept. 17 for a top-10 bantamweight clash between Cory Sandhagen and Yadong Song.