Leon Edwards vs. Nate Diaz Off UFC 262 Card Due To Injury, Moved To UFC 263 On June 12th.

The co-main event of UFC 262 on May 15th. has been postponed, and is now set for a landing pad at UFC 263 on June 12th. from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

A minor injury suffered by the returning, Nate Diaz has forced the postponing of his bout, with Leon Edwards subsequently removed from the May 15. Toyota Centre event in Houston, Texas as well. The bout will take place at UFC 263 on June 12th. — and will remain a five-round, non-title, non-main event bout. 

Joining the Gila River Arena card, Edwards vs. Diaz is now sharing a card with two undisputed title fights. Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno rematch for the flyweight championship, while Israel Adesanya looks to successfully defend his championship in a re-run against Trento standout, Marvin Vettori. News of Diaz’s minor injury and the subsequent postponing of the bout against Edwards was first reported by Yahoo! Sports reporter, Kevin Iole. 

The May 15th. Toyota Centre event is scheduled to be headlined by a vacant lightweight title clash between surging Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace, Charles Oliveira, and one-fight promotional veteran, former three-time Bellator lightweight champion, Michael Chandler.

With the removal of the scheduled co-headliner between Edwards and Diaz, a high-profile lightweight affair between former interim titleholder, Tony Ferguson and surging Kings MMA staple, Beneil Dariush has been earmarked as a potential new co-main event.

Team Renegade BJJ & MMA trainee, Edwards snapped an extended period of inactivity at UFC Vegas 21 in March, ultimately landing an inadvertent eye poke against short-notice replacement, Belal Muhammad in the second round, resulting in an official ‘No Contest’.

For Diaz, the veteran Cesar Gracie trainee has yet to feature since UFC 244 in November of 2019 where he headlined a Madison Square Garden event for the symbolic BMF championship, where he suffered a third-round doctor’s stoppage loss to two-time welterweight title challenger, Jorge Masvidal. 

Ross Markey

Senior writer for FightBook MMA. An aspiring mixed martial arts reporter based in Ireland. Producer of news articles, interviews, opinion features, and exclusive features such as, ‘The Fallout’, ‘The Breakdown, and, ‘This Week In MMA’.