Nate Diaz 's opponent for his final UFC fight appears to have been leaked after the promotion's behind-the-scenes matchmaking board was made public.
UFC boss White organises the matchmaking in his 'war room' at the UFC headquarters in Las Vegas. White recently appeared on The Pivot podcast, which was filmed in the matchmaking room, and several yet-to-be announced fights were visible in the background.
Diaz's name was match up against rising star Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 276 on July 2 in Las Vegas. The pay-per-view event takes place during International fight week and is one of the promotion's biggest cards of the year.
Chimaev, who is unbeaten in five UFC fights, recently caught wind of the news and called out Diaz on Twitter, writing: "[Let's] fight skinny". The Chechen is ranked No.2 at 170lb after his hard-fought decision win over Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 last month.
Diaz is on of the last fight of his UFC deal and is seemingly wanting out of the promotion. He was linked to a fight with Dustin Poirier that has now fizzled out and Diaz said he would rather be released than entertain a highly anticipated trilogy with Conor McGregor.
It's not the first time Diaz has been linked to fight Chimaev, as he claims the promotion tried to make the fight last December. They’re coming at me with [Chimaev], and I’m like, ‘Hold on, don’t disrespect me like that, trying to offer me a fight with a rookie,’” he told TMZ.
“Don’t even talk my name. There's levels to this. Anybody in the higher level even playing along to this Khamzat sh*t, you’re a b****, too, taking that s***. You’re a new rookie – deal with new people.”
Do you want to see Nate Diaz fight Khamzat Chimaev? Let us know in the comments section below
A fight with Diaz, who is unranked in the UFC, doesn't do much in Chimaev's hopes of becoming the promotion's first-ever three-weight champion. The 28-year-old recently called out welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and middleweight champion Israel Adesnaya for his next opponents.
The planned main event on the matchmaking board for UFC 276 is a middleweight title fight between Adesanya and Jared Cannonier. The pair both competed on the same event earlier this year, with Adesanya outpointing Robert Whittaker and Cannonier knocking out Derek Brunson.
Also scheduled to take place on the pay-per-view event is a middleweight clash between top contender Sean Strickland and kickboxing veteran Alex Pereira. Former women's bantamweight champion Miesha Tate is also booked to face Lauren Murphy.
