Charles Oliveira Pulled From UFC 294, Alexander Volkanovski Steps in on Short Notice

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.

Former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira (34-9) has withdrawn from his UFC 294 title rematch against Islam Makhachev (24-1) due to a cut suffered in training.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.