UFC Vice President of International Operations David Shaw said this at a press conference in Sao Paulo, commenting on rumors that a lightweight title fight is set to headline UFC 297 in Toronto on January 20.
“I think the intention of Dana White and the matchmakers is to make that fight happen, but we don’t have confirmation yet and we don’t know the date,” Shaw said. “But we do need some title fights for the first few months of 2024.”
Earlier, the fact that Makhachev and Oliveira will fight in Canada was reported by well-known sports columnist Ariel Helwani, after which the Russian’s manager called this information fake, while the Brazilian also made it clear that it was the first time he heard about it.
The Canadian reporter’s insider came a day after informed sources close to the situation reported that the Russian fighter plans to make another title defense on March 2 at the UFC event in Riyadh.
Recall that the rematch between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira was supposed to headline UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on October 21, however, twelve days before the event, the Brazilian suffered a dissection and lost his title shot to Alexander Volkanovski, who took the fight on short notice and suffered an early defeat, losing by knockout in the first round.