Daily Update: UFC 279 changes, CM Punk surgery, weekend schedule

Garrett Gonzales and I will be up tonight after one of the craziest weeks of the year between the AEW and UFC stuff. Bryan and I will be back Saturday night for our weekend show after UFC 279 from Las Vegas.

You have to give UFC a ton of credit for saving the show after Khamzat Chimaev missed weight by 7.5 pounds. The story is he was cramping up while cutting to get to 171 pounds and wasn't able to cut anymore. Because of the weight differential, the main event wit Nate Diaz wasn't likely to be allowed. UFC switched the top of the card to Tony Ferguson vs. Diaz at 171 pounds as a five-round main event in Diaz's last UFC fight most likely, Chimaev will now face Kevin Holland in a five round fight, and Li Jingliang will face Daniel Rodriguez. This is actually a better card than the original. It's not as marketable to the guy on the street fan as the original but the fights are more interesting to a regular fan. 

Dustin Poirier was called and asked to fight. He was 176 and had a pilot and jet ready according to Ariel Helwani, but they worked things out with the guys already in Las Vegas.

CM Punk underwent surgery earlier this week for the torn left triceps he suffered when doing the tope early in the Jon Moxley match. That is usually about an eight month recovery period His doctor recommended surgery right away to prevent any muscle atrophy.

Smackdown tonight is live from Seattle where a crowd in the neighborhood of 10,000 is expected:

• Street Profits & Hit Row vs. Los Lotharios & Maximum Male Models
• Ronda Rousey vs. Sonya Deville vs. Natalya vs. Xia Li vs. Lacey Evans, winner gets a shot at Liv Morgan at the 10/8 Extreme Rules show
• Braun Strowman and Solo Sikoa to appear. Sikoa vs. Drew McIntyre is the scheduled TV main event.

Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. on TNT: 

• Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara in the AEW title tournament
• Serena Deeb vs. Madison Rayne
• Claudio Castagnoli vs Dax Harwood for the ROH title

We're looking for reports this weekend from these WWE events:

• Smackdown in Seattle tonight (dark matches only)
• NXT in Jacksonville, FL tonight
• NXT in Orlando, FL tomorrow
• House show in Spokane, WA tomorrow night
• House show in Colorado Sprigs, CO tomorrow night
• House show in Wenatchee, WA Sunday
• The show in Eugene, OR on Sunday was canceled likely due to low ticket sales. You can send reports on these shows with results, finishes and highlights to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

• UFC 279 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas:
• ESPN+ at 6 p.m. Eastern
• Darian Weeks (170.5) vs. Yohan Lainesse (171)
• Melissa Martinez (113.5) vs. Elise Reed (115.5)
• Chad Anheliger (135.5) vs. Alatengheili (135)
• Norma Dumont (146) vs. Danyelle Wolf (146)
• ESPN News and ESPN + at 8 p.m.
• Jake Collier (265) vs. Chris Barnett (267.5) - Barnett missed weight by 1.5 pounds ad was fined)
• Denis Tiuliulin (186) vs. Jamie Pickett (185.5)
• Jailton Almeida (216.5) vs. Anton Turkalj (214) - This was made a 220 pound fight
• Hakeem Dawodu (149.5) vs. Julia Erosa (146) - Dawodu missed weight by 2.5 pounds)
• PPV at 10 p.m.
• Johnny Walker (205) vs. Ion Cutelaba (205.5)
• Irene Aldana (137.5) vs. Macy Chiasson (139.5) - This would made a 140 pound fight
• Li Jingliang (170.5) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (179) - Rodriguez was in a 180 pound fight, Jingliang agreed to the fight today when they shook up the show
• Khamzat Chimaev (178.5) vs. Kevin Holland (179.5)
• Nate Diaz (171) vs. Tony Ferguson (171)

Yuji Nagata has his 30th anniversary of his debut match on Sunday in Togane, Japan against Great-O-Khan.

AEW

BetOnline has these odds on the AEW championship tournament:

• Bryan Danielson -130
• Chris Jericho +150
• Jon Moxley +450
• Sammy Guevara +650

You can also bet on if MJF wins the title before the end of the year:

• Yes -300
• No +200

Other Notes

Jake Paul and Anderson Silva have press conferences on Monday at NeueHouse in Hollywood Studio A and Tuesday in Glendale, AZ at the Gila River Arena.

The NFC is promoting a UFC 279 party at Big Sky in Buckhead in Atlanta with tickets at $10 including a Free drink.

Combate Global runs tonight on Paramount + at 11 p.m. Eastern with Victor Cisneros (5-0) vs Sean Mora (2-0) in a bantamweight fight and Kyle Estrada (11-7) vs. Cristian Basrraza (8-5) in a flyweight fight.

PowerTown Wrestling action figure company will be releasing Series 1 auction figures on 9/16 of Lou Thesz, Verne Gagne, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Magnum T.A. and Kerry Von Erich.

MLW on 9/18 in Norcross, GA at the Space Event Center has added Lady Shani vs. Lady Flammer vs. La Hiedra vs. Reina Dorada. The winner will be top contender for Taya's MLW featherweight title.

MCW presents Bruiser Strong on Saturday night at the RJ Meyer Arena in Joppa, MD, with Mandy Leon, Erick Redbeard and Trey Miguel.

LFA tonight on UFC Fight Pass at 10 p.m. Eastern from the Dobson Arena in Vail, CO:

• Ben Tynan (237.2) vs. Lance Lee (232.2)
• Luis Gurule (125.8) vs. Josiah Reyes (125)
• Kathryn Paprocki (115) vs. Kelsey Arnesen (114.6)
• Bryce Meredith (135.8) vs. Nathan Fought (139.8) - Fought missed weight and pays a penalty to Meredith
• Haris Talundzic (170.6) vs. Chris Brown (170.8)