It appears that Nick Diaz’s
Ultimate Fighting Championship return has run into some
complications.
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During the UFC
on ESPN 60 broadcast on Saturday night, it was announced the
Diaz vs. Vicente
Luque bout that was scheduled for Abu Dhabi on Aug. 3 has been
postponed due to “travel issues.” As a result, a middleweight clash
between Sharabutdin
Magomedov and Michal
Oleksiejczuk has been added to the
UFC on ABC 7 lineup and will serve as the card’s new main
event. It was also revealed that the promotion hopes to reschedule
Diaz vs. Luque, but a date for that is currently unknown.
Commonly known as “Shara Bullet,” Magomedov is undefeated in 13
professional outings. The 30-year-old Dagestani has kicked off his
promotional tenure with a unanimous decision win over Bruno Silva
at UFC 294 and a third-round TKO of Antonio
Trocoli at UFC on ABC 6.
Poland’s Oleksiejczuk has dropped three of his last four Octagon
appearances. Most recently, he suffered a first-round submission
defeat to Kevin
Holland at UFC 302 on June 1.
Diaz hasn’t competed since falling to Robbie
Lawler via third-round TKO at UFC 266 in September 2021. Luque,
meanwhile, is coming off a second-round TKO defeat to Joaquin
Buckley at UFC on ESPN 54 this past March.
UFC on ABC 7 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and is
headlined by a bantamweight showdown between Cory
Sandhagen and Umar
Nurmagomedov. The main card airs on ABC and ESPN+ at 3 p.m.
ET/noon PT, while prelims will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN+
beginning at noon ET/9 a.m. PT.