Dana White revealed that Charles Oliveira is officially out of his highly anticipated rematch with Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi on October 21.
The UFC CEO broke the news on Tuesday evening during a press conference following the latest episode of Dana White’s Contender Series. White confirmed that Oliveira was forced to pull out of the bout after sustaining a nasty cut over his right eye during a sparring session.
“Round 5 of sparring last night, before he’s supposed to jump on a plane today, splits his eyebrow wide open. Had it stitched up last night. Obviously can’t fly out here with that,” White said.
“They didn’t call us. We would have had him go to a plastic surgeon. They would have sewed it from the inside out, get that thing done the right way. These guys never call us like they should when something happens. They call us after they get it stitched up. On the flip side, too, I could see him not wanting to risk it, getting a shot like this.”
‘The Great’ Steps Up and Takes Charles Oliveira’s Spot
With Oliveira officially out and the UFC 294 headliner in disarray, White confirmed that he only had to make one phone call to fill the slot. Stepping up to the plate on 11 days’ notice will be reigning featherweight world champion Alexander Volkanovski.
“This is how we do it, brother,” White said. “One fight falls out and we end up making a fight — it’s one of the most anticipated rematches ever in that weight class.”
Volkanovski and Makhachev delivered a Fight of the Year contender during their first meeting at UFC 284 in February. Eight months later, the pair will run it back with the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ once again putting his lightweight title on the line.
“The Volkanovski crew, him and Israel [Adesanya], these guys are absolute studs, man,” White added.
Unfortunately, that’s not the only blow that UFC 294 has taken over the last 24 hours. Reports recently surfaced suggesting that Paulo Costa could be out of his co-main event clash with Khamzat Chimaev after undergoing elbow surgery a few short weeks ago. The promotion is said to have already reached out to Marvin Vettori to step in, but ‘The Italian Dream’ is said to have declined the offer.