Diaz vs. Luque Postponed; 'Shara Bullet' vs. Oleksiejczuk Added to UFC Abu Dhabi

It appears that Nick Diaz ’s Ultimate Fighting Championship return has run into some complications.

During the UFC on ESPN 60 broadcast on Saturday night, it was announced the Diaz vs. Vicente Luque bout that was scheduled for Abu Dhabi on Aug. 3 has been postponed due to “travel issues.” As a result, a middleweight clash between Sharabutdin Magomedov and Michal Oleksiejczuk has been added to the UFC on ABC 7 lineup and will serve as the card’s new main event. It was also revealed that the promotion hopes to reschedule Diaz vs. Luque, but a date for that is currently unknown.

Commonly known as “Shara Bullet,” Magomedov is undefeated in 13 professional outings. The 30-year-old Dagestani has kicked off his promotional tenure with a unanimous decision win over Bruno Silva at UFC 294 and a third-round TKO of Antonio Trocoli at UFC on ABC 6.

Poland’s Oleksiejczuk has dropped three of his last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, he suffered a first-round submission defeat to Kevin Holland at UFC 302 on June 1.

Diaz hasn’t competed since falling to Robbie Lawler via third-round TKO at UFC 266 in September 2021. Luque, meanwhile, is coming off a second-round TKO defeat to Joaquin Buckley at UFC on ESPN 54 this past March.

UFC on ABC 7 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a bantamweight showdown between Cory Sandhagen and Umar Nurmagomedov . The main card airs on ABC and ESPN+ at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT, while prelims will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN+ beginning at noon ET/9 a.m. PT.