Nate Diaz heads to the exit … and it’s blocked by Khamzat Chimaev

Five of the last six UFC pay-per-view fight cards have been headlined by not just one championship bout but a pair of them. That’s a lot of gold and glory on the line.

By contrast, UFC 279 will have not even a single title contest.

What Saturday’s event in Las Vegas (10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV) will have going for it, though, are two attractions that sparkle no less brightly than a cage full of shiny belts: Nate Diaz and Khamzat Chimaev.

Diaz is the larger-than-life embodiment of the UFC’s onetime company slogan: “As Real As It Gets.” He is unvarnished and unapologetic, an iconic antihero who has become a fan favorite by flaunting his renegade truth ever since he first set foot inside the Octagon in 2007.

The in-your-face belligerence that exudes from this man always stirs up a crowd, and this weekend’s appearance could give rise to especially urgent thrills. Diaz will be in the final fight of his UFC contract, and that circumstance has the intriguing potential to ramp up his realness, if that’s even possible.

Across the cage for the main event will stand Chimaev, who since bursting on the UFC scene two years ago has been skyrocketing up the welterweight ranks. That’s because, in going 5-0 in the Octagon, he has put up the kind of numbers that, if plotted out in a superhero film script, would be sent back for a more plausible rewrite. And to watch him pull this off has been spellbinding. Chimaev is not someone whose essence can be captured in words. Again and again he puts on performances you must see to…