Fan-favorite UFC star Nick Diaz won’t be competing in 2024 after all.
Saturday during the UFC Fight Night 248 broadcast, the promotion confirmed Diaz (26-10 MMA, 7-7 UFC) is out of his Dec. 7 bout at UFC 310 vs. Vicente Luque (22-10-1 MMA, 15-6 UFC) for undisclosed reasons. MMA Mania first reported the change.
Stepping in for Diaz will be Themba Gorimbo (14-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC). The three-round welterweight bout will take place on the card’s prelims at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The cancellation comes days after a bizarre video of Diaz sitting on the ground and attempting to light something on fire went viral on social media. It’s unclear what Diaz was doing exactly, as is the original source of the video.
Diaz, 41, has not competed since a September 2021 loss to Robbie Lawler. That fight is his only since January 2015. He attempted a comeback for an August bout vs. Luque, but withdrew from that one, too, though that was due to “travel issues,” according to the promotion.
Zimbabwe’s Gorimbo, 33, steps into the highest-profile MMA fight of his life against a former welterweight contender. He enters the bout on a four-fight winning streak that consists of victories over Takashi Sato, Pete Rodriguez, Ramiz Brahimaj, and Niko Price.
Luque, 32, aims to bounce back from a TKO loss to Joaquin Buckley in March. The defeat was his third in four fights with the lone victory in the stretch a unanimous decision over Rafael dos Anjos.
With the change, the UFC 310 lineup includes:
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Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura – for flyweight title
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Ian Machado Garry vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
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Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
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Kron Gracie vs. Bryce Mitchell
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Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling
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Dominick Reyes vs. Anthony Smith
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Clay Guida vs. Chase Hooper
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Eryk Anders vs. Chris Weidman
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Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin
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Themba Gorimbo vs. Vicente Luque
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Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van
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Martin Buday vs. Rizvan Kuniev
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Bryan Battle vs. Randy Brown
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Lukasz Brzeski vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
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Doo Ho Choi vs. Nate Landwehr
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Nick Diaz officially out of UFC 310; Vicente Luque gets new opponent
