The main event of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s upcoming card in Abu Dhabi has
suffered a massive blow with just 10 days to go before fight
night.
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Former lightweight champion Charles
Oliveira (34-9) has withdrawn from his UFC 294 title rematch
against Islam
Makhachev (24-1) due to a cut suffered in training.
Featherweight champ Alexander
Volkanovski (26-2) will step up on short notice to take on
Makhachev in his second bid for lightweight gold. The news was
first reported by OverDogs Podcast on Instagram
and subsequently confirmed by Carlos Contreras Legaspi of
ESPN Deportes.
UFC President Dana White officially confirmed the news on Tuesday
at
the post-fight press conference for
DWCS 2023, Week 10. White revealed that “do Bronx” was forced
to pull out after having his eyebrow split open during sparring the
night before he was supposed to fly down to Abu Dhabi. The UFC
president also expressed his displeasure with Oliveira’s camp for
informing the UFC of the incident only after getting it treated,
claiming that the promotion would have arranged medical care that
might have allowed Oliveira to travel and compete. White said:
“Yes, all of that is true. Round 5 of sparring last night, he’s
supposed to jump on a plane today, splits his eyebrow wide open.
And had it stitched up last night. Obviously, can’t fly out there
with that, you know what I mean… They didn’t call us. We’d have had
him go to a plastic surgeon that would have sewed it from the
inside out, get that thing done the right way. These guys never
call us like this sh*t when something happens. They call us after
getting it stitched up. But on the flip side too I could see him
not wanting to risk it, getting a shot like this.”
Additionally, the UFC head honcho was unhappy with Oliveira’s team,
which he claimed leaked the news of the fight before the official
announcement. He added:
“I would have liked to have talked to the powers that be in Abu
Dhabi before it got announced but people can’t keep their f***ing
mouth shut for whatever reason.”
White also hailed Volkanovski and his team as “absolute studs” for
accepting the fight over a single phone call. “The Great”
challenged Makhachev for the belt at UFC 284 in February in an
attempt to become a simultaneous two-division champ but came up
short in a competitive fight, losing by unanimous decision.
Volkanovski receiving the call was somewhat surprising considering
that lightweight contender Mateusz
Gamrot had been specifically named as the backup fighter for
UFC 294’s headliner.
UFC 294 “Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2” takes place on Oct. 21 at
Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The
13-fight card is now scheduled to be headlined by the
Makhachev-Volkanovski lightweight title rematch, with a
middleweight bout between Paulo Costa
and Khamzat
Chimaev as the co-main event. The main card will be broadcast
on pay-per-view through ESPN+ in the United States, while the
prelims stream on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass.