Last night, Fox Sports Live reported that an injury to Lightweight champion Anthony Pettis forced a postponement of his expected first title defense against Josh Thomson. With the Lightweight belt now off the December 14 UFC on Fox 9 card, the UFC decided to bump the Flyweight title match between Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez from The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale.
Instead of the Flyweight championship, the Lightweight tilt between Nate Diaz and Gray Maynard has been moved too top billing. After getting the news, Diaz had some harsh words for the 155 lb. champ and a warning that he might have other commitments on the night of the event:
Diaz is referring to this being the second time in 2013 that Pettis has dropped out of a fight due to injury. Leading up to his scheduled Featherweight title fight against Jose Aldo at UFC 163, a minor injury kept Pettis out. He was able to jump in at UFC 164 to fight and beat Ben Henderson for the Lightweight belt at UFC 164.
The hashtag Diaz chose for the first tweet may land him in a bit of hot water. Earlier this year he was suspended for 90 days and fined $20K for an offensive tweet. This one will likely catch the eye of the UFC's PR team as well.
Additionally, this isn't the first time Diaz has said he's got prior engagements for Nov. 30. In September he tweeted that he'll be attending his high school reunion and 'can't make it'. UFC president Dana White said he wasn't concerned about it, but for now it looks like Nate's not letting it go.
Assuming Diaz doesn't no-show the event, this will be the third time he faces Maynard in the Octagon. Their first meeting was an exhibition fight for TUF 5 where Diaz submitted Maynard by guillotine, but doesn't show on either fighter's record. The second meeting saw Maynard winning a lackluster decision.
The TUF 18 Finale will go down in the Mandalay Bay Events Center. It will feature the TUF tournament finals for the women's and men's Bantamweight divisions. With only 5 fights currently scheduled for the show, it looks like we'll see a lot of the TUF cast competing on the card.