According to Ariel Helwani, a well-known sports columnist, the world’s strongest league has decided to postpone the featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Elijah Topuria until February and instead schedule a rematch between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira as the main event of UFC 297.
“The current plan, not yet finalized, is to have a fight between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira headline the UFC 297 event,” the Canadian reporter wrote on social media. “This event has yet to be officially announced, but will take place on January 20 in Toronto.”
“The main event was originally scheduled to be a fight between Volkanovski and Topuria, but it has now been moved to February. A fight for the vacant women’s flyweight title between Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva will also take place on Jan. 20”
A rematch between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira was scheduled to headline UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on October 21, however, the Brazilian suffered a dissection twelve days before the event and lost his title shot to Alexander Volkanovski, who took the fight on short notice and suffered an early defeat, losing by first-round knockout.
The first fight between Makhachev and Oliveira took place last October, when the Russian finished the Brazilian with an arm-triangle choke in the second round and won the vacant UFC lightweight championship belt.
The information announced by Ariel Helwani contradicts rumors that Islam Makhachev is scheduled to make his next title defense on March 2 at the UFC event in Riyadh. It also seems unlikely that the Russian fighter will return to the octagon just three months after his previous title defense, and he will do so for a tournament in Canada.