Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is holding a special pre-fight press conference for the upcoming UFC 294: “Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2” ESPN+ mixed martial arts (MMA) event, locked and loaded for this Sat. (Oct. 21, 2023) inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The entire UFC 294 pay-per-view (PPV) main card is expected to be in attendance, including lightweight headliners Islam Makhachev and Alex Volkanovski, as well as middleweight co-headliners Khamzat Chimaev and Kamaru Usman, among others.
The LIVE press conference stream gets underway TODAY (Thurs., Oct. 19) at 9 a.m. ET in the embedded video above.
“If I’m being completely honest, I would’ve [told Volkanovski] ‘Hold off, let’s get a fair opportunity’,” former UFC heavyweight champion and current color commentator Daniel Cormier said during his ESPN preview. “Let’s get a full camp, a chance to go out there and do what we did last time with all the information we gathered in the first fight. You can’t put all of that into play … even when he’s completely prepared for everybody else, he’s still kinda have his mind set on Islam. I believe that he knew that it was going to be Charles, he thinks Justin Gaethje is going to be next, so the opportunity may pass him by. But, I would’ve probably waited.”
We’ll see if Cormier is right this weekend in Abu Dhabi.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 294 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 10 a.m. ET, followed by the UFC 294 PPV main card start time at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 294: “Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the complete UFC 294 fight card and PPV lineup click here.