Nate Diaz’s fight against Leon Edwards has been pushed back from UFC 262 to UFC 263 after Diaz suffered a minor injury.
The report via Yahoo Sports indicates that the popular UFC star has an “unspecified minor injury” that ensures his bout with Edwards will now be on June 12 in Glendale instead of May 15 in Houston.
However, even though it seemingly will no longer be a co-main event with UFC 263 already featuring two title fights, the plan is still for it to be five rounds instead of three.
The bout was originally set to make history, as the first ever five-round non-title co-main event the UFC had ever booked.
The Nate Diaz rollercoaster continues
The contest is set to have huge implications for the welterweight division with many believing Edwards will get a title shot against Kamaru Usman with a convincing victory. On the flip-side, Diaz may also get himself back in the mix if he can pull off the upset and really cause ‘Rocky’ some damage.
Diaz is committed to fighting Edwards and only Edwards next, I’m told.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 4, 2021
It’s been one delay after the next for the Brit, unfortunately.
This now leaves Michael Chandler vs Charles Oliveira as the primary attraction for UFC 262 next Saturday night, with Tony Ferguson vs Beneil Dariush being tipped to feature as the new co-main event.
Diaz last competed at UFC 244 in November 2019 where he lost via doctor stoppage to Jorge Masvidal. Edwards competed back in March, but wasn’t able to make much of a statement courtesy of an accidental eye poke that ensured his opponent Belal Muhammad was unable to continue.
The majority of fans are used to complications and delays with Nate Diaz, but this one will definitely hurt the UFC 262 card. Still, there’s always a silver lining around the next corner, and this does lift UFC 263 up to the status of being one of the promotion’s most stacked cards of the year thus far.
Edwards seemingly can’t catch a break but if this fight still goes ahead, he’ll almost certainly be the favourite.
Featured image credit: Getty
