Veteran official Marc Goddard will be the third man in the Octagon
when
Khamzat
Chimaev and
Nate Diaz
square off in the
UFC
279 main event next month.
Goddard was selected during a Nevada State Athletic Commission
meeting on Tuesday. Notable headlining assignments for Goddard this
year include
Alexander
Volkanovski vs.
Max
Holloway 3 at UFC 276;
Jiri
Prochazka vs.
Glover
Teixeira at UFC 275 and
Charles
Oliveira vs.
Justin
Gaethje at UFC 274. He will be paid $2,500.
Meanwhile, Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Ron McCarthy will serve as
cageside judges for the welterweight bout. Each will earn $2,000
for their work.
Chimaev appears to be on the verge of securing a welterweight title
shot with victories in his first five promotional appearances. The
Allstars Training Center representative last appeared at UFC 273,
where he defeated
Gilbert
Burns via unanimous decision on April 9.
One of the sport’s most popular fighters, Diaz is entering the
final bout of his UFC contract. The 37-year-old Stockton, Calif.,
native is coming off a five-round unanimous decision defeat to
Leon
Edwards at UFC 263 in June 2021.
UFC 279 takes place on Sept. 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas
and will also include a welterweight tilt pitting
Tony
Ferguson against
Jingliang
Li.