Nick Diaz’s return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship appears to be facing some problems.
During Saturday night’s broadcast of UFC on ESPN 60, it was announced that Diaz vs. Vicente Luque, scheduled for August 3 in Abu Dhabi, has been postponed due to “travel issues.” As a result, a middleweight showdown between Shalabdin Magomedov and Michal Olekseychuk has been added to the lineup for UFC on ABC 7 as the card’s new main event. It was also revealed that the promotion hopes to reschedule the Diaz vs. Luque fight, but that a date is currently unknown.
Magomedov, better known as “Shala Bullet,” is undefeated in his 13 professional fights. The 30-year-old Dagestan native began his promotional career with a unanimous decision win over Bruno Silva at UFC 294 and a third-round TKO win over Antonio Trocoli at UFC on ABC 6.
Poland’s Oleksiejczuk has lost three of his last four Octagon appearances, most recently via first-round submission to Kevin Holland at UFC 302 on June 1.
Diaz has not fought since losing via third-round TKO to Robbie Lawler at UFC 266 in September 2021, while Luque is fresh off a second-round TKO loss to Joaquin Buckley at UFC on ESPN 54 in March of this year.
UFC on ABC 7 will take place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and will be headlined by a bantamweight showdown between Cory Sandhagen and Umar Nurmagomedov. The main card will air on ABC and ESPN+ at 3pm ET/noon PT, with prelims at noon ET/9am PT on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
