Brazilian UFC fighter Charles Oliveira made a statement about the cancellation of his rematch against the promotion's lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, which was scheduled to take place on October 21 at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi.
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski agreed to replace Oliveira on short notice. Recall that Makhachev and Volkanovski have previously met in the octagon at UFC 284, held in February of this year. Islam won that fight by unanimous decision.
Oliveira posted an apology video on his social media, explaining his current situation:
Today in my last training here in Brazil, to be able to travel, I ended up suffering a head injury in my training, where I had a deep cut, I think I took 8 [or] 9 points [stitches], something like that.It’s a very deep cut to be able to fight, to be able to recover in this little time I have, and to be able to make a great fight. The team, along with the UFC, have decided to leave the fight and be 100 percent ready for the next fight. I apologize.
Volkanovski's last fight was against Yair Rodriguez in July of this year at UFC 290. In this confrontation, Alex won by technical knockout in the third round.
Makhachev has 24 wins and one defeat in MMA. Volkanovski has 26 wins and two losses.