"BUT doesn’t it all seem a lil fishy?"- Brendan Schaub has a conspiracy theory for why the matchups on the UFC 279 main card were changed

Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub seemingly has a conspiracy theory regarding UFC 279. The UFC 279 card set to transpire on September 10th was initially set to be headlined by a five-round welterweight bout between Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz.

Meanwhile, a three-round welterweight bout between Li Jingliang and Tony Ferguson was booked as the co-headliner. The main card was also set to feature a 180-pound catchweight bout between Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez.

However, Chimaev missed weight by a whopping 7.5 pounds at the official weigh-in. Following 'Borz's' shocking weight debacle, the UFC conducted a massive reshuffling of the main card.

It's now been confirmed that Diaz will face Ferguson in a five-round bout that'll headline the event, while Chimaev will fight Holland in the event's five-round co-headlining fight. Moreover, Jingliang has been booked to go up against Rodriguez in a three-round fight.

Retired MMA fighter Brendan Schaub took to Twitter to address the aforesaid reshuffling of the fight card and suggested that there's probably a conspiracy behind the same. 'Big Brown' tweeted:

"THANK GOD #UFC279 is still happening BUT doesn’t it all seem a lil fishy? All three main fights get switched mmmmmhmm #Conspiracy #Earthisnotflat"

Former UFC welterweight Ben Askren disagreed and indicated that Jingliang, Rodriguez, and Holland were simply offered more money to save the event. Askren tweeted:

"What’s the conspiracy??? I’m sure Li, Rodriguez and Holland got fat envelopes."

Nevertheless, 'Big Brown' opined that the card reshuffling wasn't really due to Chimaev missing weight. He opined that the UFC switched up the card as the Chimaev-Diaz fight was a huge mismatch and the event was resultantly not trending well. Schaub replied to Askren with the following tweet:

"Agree, I’m sure everyone got paid. I don’t think it’s due to Khamzat missing weight. I think it got switched due to #UFC279 not trending well since it was such a mismatch"

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What's at stake for UFC 279 headliners Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson?

Nate Diaz is on a two-fight losing streak and has won just one of his last four fights. However, Diaz's fellow UFC fan-favorite and veteran MMA fighter Tony Ferguson is on a four-fight losing streak. Furthermore, UFC 279 marks Ferguson's return to the welterweight division after spending several years at lightweight.

The consensus is that Diaz will depart the organization after UFC 279. The Ferguson matchup is the final fight on Diaz's UFC contract. Diaz is expected to foray into boxing next. Needless to say, a loss would severely dent the outgoing Diaz's brand value. For Ferguson, a win at UFC 279 is crucial, or else he'll have lost five consecutive fights and could possibly face relentless calls to retire.