The UFC 294 pay-per-view has a new main event in Abu Dhabi.
After a serious cut sustained by headliner Charles Oliveira, UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will now fight featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
The new fight was revealed on Tuesday night with a rematch from this past February where Makhachev retained the lightweight championship by decision against Volkanovski.
UFC CEO Dana White said Oliveira sustained the cut on Monday during sparring and will prevent him from headlining the October 21 pay-per-view in Abu Dhabi.
In my last training session here in Brazil, I ended up suffering a head-butt. It opened a very deep cut. I had eight or nine stitches, I don’t really know. It’s a very deep cut to be able to fight, to recover in the little time I have and put on a great fight. So my team, together with the UFC, decided to pull out of the fight so I could be 100% ready for the next one.
Everyone knows the importance of this fight. It’s not just a fight, it’s a title fight, so there are big things involved, and we couldn’t just go and fight anyway. I know a lot of people will judge, but it’s a very important fight for us. We couldn’t go into it when we were 80% ready. We have to be 120% ready for it.
There is also uncertainty regarding Paulo Costa’s status for UFC 294 after the middleweight revealed that he recently had surgery on his elbow. White said on Tuesday that were awaiting confirmation if Costa could still fight Khamzat Chimaev next week.
The cut that forced Charles Oliveira out of #UFC294 pic.twitter.com/uv6IuRd5aD
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) October 11, 2023
