By:  | July 20, 2022 10:13 am

Khamzat Chimaev has a date, a venue and an opponent for his next fight. The Swedish star will be facing veteran Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 279 on September 10th.

This will be the first time Chimaev has headlined a UFC card. The event is set for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and looks set to be a farewell fight for Diaz who only has one bout left on his contract.

Chimaev (11-0) has barely been on the roster for two years yet already has five UFC wins to his name. By contrast Diaz (20-13) hasn’t managed to fight more than two times in a calendar year since 2011.

But Diaz has been on the roster since winning TUF 5 in 2007. He is perhaps best known for submitting Conor McGregor in the second round at UFC 196 in 2016.

Chimaev is coming off the biggest win of his career. He beat Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 but the Brazilian caused him quite a few problems in a bout that saw both men walk away with $50,000 USD performance bonuses.

Previously announced

As previously announced Heili Alateng will be making his pay per view debut on this card. The Chinese bantamweight has been booked to face Chad Anheliger at UFC 279.

Alateng is coming off the most impressive win of his career. At UFC Vegas 51 he stopped Kevin Croom in just 47 seconds, the first time he had finished a fight inside the distance since his Road FC days.

Anheliger  cored a split decision win over ONE Championship veteran Muin Gafurov on Dana White’s Contender Series to earn a spot on the roster. The Canadian stopped Jesse Strader on his UFC debut to take his winning streak to ten.

The card had initially been expected to be headlined by a bantamweight title fight between Aljamain Sterling and TJ Dillashaw. But that appears to be on the back burner for the time being.

UFC 279, Las Vegas, September 10th
Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz (Welterweight)
Trey Ogden vs. Daniel Zellhuber (Lightweight)
Nikolas Motta vs. Cameron VanCamp (Lightweight)
Danyelle Wolf vs. Norma Dumont (Featherweight)
Louis Cosce vs. Trevin Giles Welterweight)
Daniel da Silva vs. Victor Altamirano (Flyweight)
Irene Aldana vs. Macy Chiasson (Bantamweight)
Elise Reed vs. Mellisa Martinez (Strawweight)
Jamie Pickett vs. Denis Tiuliulin (Middleweight)
Alateng Heili vs. Chad Anheilger (Bantamweight)