Report: UFC sought Gaethje, Strickland as UFC 294 replacements

It turns out Alexander Volkanovski and Kamaru Usman were not the UFC's preferences to step in on short notice against Islam Makhachev and Khamzat Chimaev.

UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell told ESPN's Marc Raimondi in a feature story that BMF champ Justin Gaethje was his first choice to replace Charles Oliveira and challenge Makhachev for the lightweight title at UFC 294 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

But Gaethje weighed 188 pounds when the UFC reached out about fighting Makhachev and wouldn't be able to cut down to 155 pounds in time, his manager Ali Abdelaziz told Raimondi.

The promotion also called Dustin Poirier and Mateusz Gamrot but never officially offered them the title shot. Poirier tweeted that he told the UFC he would accept the fight. Gamrot, meanwhile, had already been - and still is - the backup fighter for the main event.

As for the co-headliner, the UFC began seeking replacements well before Paulo Costa was officially ruled out of his fight against Chimaev early last week. Costa had informed Campbell in September he was dealing with an infected bursa on his elbow but wanted to stay in the fight.

The UFC called newly crowned middleweight champion Sean Strickland about facing Chimaev, sources told Raimondi. But Strickland was only about a week removed from his title win against Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in Australia, so the timing did not make sense.

The promotion turned to former middleweight title challenger Jared Cannonier as the likely replacement, according to Raimondi. Cannonier's team told UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard he would be ready if Costa was removed from the fight.

Last week, when it was confirmed that Costa could not compete, the UFC had a video package ready to go to announce Cannonier-Chimaev along with Makhachev-Volkanovski 2. But Cannonier suffered an injury at the 11th hour. Abdelaziz then pitched a fight between Chimaev and his client Roman Dolidze. But the UFC went in a different direction and booked Chimaev versus Usman instead.