Reigning UFC lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, told how he learned about the cancellation of the fight with Charles Oliveira and the organization of a rematch with Alexander Volkanovski.
“My manager Ali sent me a message, ‘your opponent has withdrawn’ and I sent him back, ‘I’ll fight anyone, it doesn’t matter’ as I wanted to make this fight in Abu Dhabi,” the Russian told TSN. “I’m already close to the weight and I’ve been training hard for the last three months to beat someone.”
“I went to bed, woke up in the morning to train, and I see a message from Ali – it’s going to be the second round with Volkanovski”
According to Makhachev, before Volkanovski gave his consent, American Justin Gaethje, who is ranked second in the division’s rankings, refused to fight him.
“It’s hard to find someone on ten days notice. I heard they called Justin Gaethje, but he said he couldn’t make weight. We didn’t have a lot of options and I was ready to fight anyone. I thought they might give the fight to Gamrot, but Volkanovski ended up agreeing and that didn’t surprise me too much”
“This guy isn’t risking anything by taking the fight on short notice – he’s not putting his belt on the line and he’s getting good money. In any case, I’m glad he accepted because there are a lot of questions left after the previous fight, the answers to which we will find in Abu Dhabi”
Recall that the lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Alex Volkanovski will be the main event of UFC 294, which will take place on October 21 in Abu Dhabi.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/32857-islam-makhachev-rasskazal-ob-organizatsii-revansha-s-aleksom-volkanovski.html?rand=19907
