UFC icons Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson will now meet in the main event of UFC 279 on Saturday in Las Vegas following a wild sequence of events that saw the top three fights on the card reshuffled at the last minute.

Diaz's original opponent, third-ranked welterweight Khamzat Chimaev, missed the weight limit of 170 by nearly 10 pounds on Friday. Ultimately, he was pulled from the main event and paired in the co-main event against Kevin Holland, who has fought at welterweight and middleweight and was scheduled to fight Daniel Rodriguez on Saturday.

Ferguson was set to face welterweight prospect Li Jingliang, who now faces Rodriguez. Ultimately, Ferguson vs. Diaz provides a competitive matchup of two fading fan favorites who never met in the cage despite both spending most of their careers in the same weight class.

Ferguson is a -135 favorite (risk $135 to win $100), while Diaz is priced at +115 (risk $100 to win $115) in the latest Caesars Sportsbook odds for UFC 279. The main fight card begins at 10 p.m. ET.

Before finalizing any UFC 279 picks, you NEED to see the latest MMA predictions from SportsLine MMA analyst Kyle Marley. Over the past three-plus years, $100 bettors who have followed Marley's picks are up more than $13,000! 

The accomplished MMA analyst has provided consistent winners for SportsLine members for the past three-plus years. His accomplishments include hitting five consecutive main-event underdog winners in 2020 following the UFC's brief pause in action because of the pandemic. Anyone who has followed Marley is WAY UP!

This week at UFC 279, we can tell you Marley is backing Irene Aldana (-180) to beat Macy Chiasson (+160). 

Marley also has strong picks for Ferguson vs. Diaz and every other bout on the UFC 279 card. He's also backing a fighter who "is the better striker" to emerge with a dominant victory! You MUST SEE his UFC 279 picks before making any of your own.

Who wins UFC 279: Ferguson vs. Diaz? And which fighter is a MUST-BACK? ... Join SportsLine right now to see which fighters you need to be all over Saturday, all from the expert who's up more than $13,000 on MMA picks!