Oliveira out of UFC 294, Volkanovski to face Makhachev in main event

Charles Oliveira is out for his rematch against lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 294, Dana White confirmed Tuesday, according to USA Today's Mike Bohn.

With Oliveira sidelined, Alexander Volkanovski will step in on 11 days' notice to replace the Brazilian in the Oct. 21 card's main event in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It'll be his second UFC lightweight title fight versus Makhachev, who defeated Volkanovski - the reigning UFC featherweight champion - by unanimous decision in February at UFC 284.

Oliveira was supposed to fly to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, but the former lightweight champ split his eyebrow "wide-open" in the fifth round of sparring Monday, according to White.

"Had it stitched up last night. Obviously, can't fly out there with that," White said of Oliveira's injury.

The 33-year-old Oliveira, who's coming off a TKO win over Beneil Dariush in June, lost the lightweight belt to Makhachev at UFC 280 in October 2022.

Makhachev has won his last 12 fights, including his first lightweight title defense against Volkanovski.

Meanwhile, the 35-year-old Volkanovski most recently defended his featherweight title at UFC 290 in July by defeating Yair Rodriguez via TKO. He had surgery on his left arm that kept him sidelined for six weeks after the fight.

White said all he had to do was to make "one phone call" to get Volkanovski to agree to fight at UFC 294, according to ESPN's Marc Raimondi.

"The Volkanovski crew ... these guys are absolute studs, man," White added.

Volkanovski suffered his first UFC loss versus Makhachev in February while trying to become just the fifth UFC fighter ever to hold two titles simultaneously. He'll now have another shot at history sooner than expected.