UFC had scheduled a fight between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev.
#UFC295 at MSG after Jon Jones withdrew.
Charles Oliveira declined the offer because his cuts had not yet fully healed.#UFC
#Mixed Martial Arts
pic.twitter.com/3BcMYKIZJu
— Championship Round (@ChampRDS)
June 8, 2024
The injury that forced Charles Oliveira to withdraw from UFC 294 proved costly.
Oliveira was scheduled to challenge Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title at UFC 294 in October 2023. However, the night before Oliveira was scheduled to leave Brazil for Abu Dhabi, “The Bronx” suffered a severe cut during sparring and was forced to withdraw from the bout. Alexander Volkanovski, who replaced Oliveira on 12 days’ notice, suffered a brutal first-round knockout loss. The latest season of Fight, Inc.: Inside the UFC offers behind-the-scenes footage of what happened after Oliveira withdrew.
UFC president Dana White criticized Oliveira for jeopardizing his title fight by sparring without headgear just days before, and also expressed dissatisfaction with the way Oliveira’s team handled the situation rather than leaving it up to UFC.
“How about this? How about they call us and we fix it and tell them what to do,” White said during a conversation with UFC executives. “A week before he leaves for the fight, or the day of it, he leaves today and he spars without headgear… he spars the night before without headgear… he loses a lot of money on that.”
Dana White was in a very bad mood when he found out that Charles Oliveira had been injured and was forced to withdraw from his fight against Islam Makhachev.
“He goes to sparring the night before without any headgear on.”#UFC
#Mixed Martial Arts
— Championship Round (@ChampRDS)
June 8, 2024
Oliveira’s injury was the result of an accidental head butt during a grappling match, which matchmaker Sean Shelby noted cost the Brazilian an estimated $2 million.
But this wasn’t the first time Oliveira lost money to a headbutt.
A month later, the UFC faced a similar problem when Jon Jones was forced to withdraw from his UFC 295 main event bout against Stipe Miocic with a pectoral muscle injury. One of the alternatives considered by UFC executive Hunter Campbell was a Makhachev vs. Oliveira fight.
“Let’s see if Islam and Oliveira are willing to go,” Campbell told White. “Islam hasn’t taken any damage, I don’t think he’s taken a hit. [Oliveira’s] The cut will be ready by then.”
White seemed excited about the possibility.
“I actually love that,” he said. “It’s a great idea.”
The offer was then relayed via phone to Oliveira’s team, who could be heard telling Campbell that the fight was not possible.
“So you’re going to fight Makhachev in November?…But you can’t fight Islam,” was the reply (translated by UFC).
Campbell informed White that Oliveira was still in the doctor for the cut and needed two stitches, meaning he would not be able to compete.
“Oliveira can’t do it… because the cut hasn’t healed and he hasn’t trained. The doctor says he has no contact for another 10 days. The cut was too deep and he needed double stitches.”
“I went from disappointed to excited to disappointed again,” White said.
The original co-headline of UFC 295, the light heavyweight title bout between Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka, has been promoted to the main event, while a hastily arranged interim heavyweight title bout between Tom Aspinall and Sergey Pavlovic became the co-headline, with the Briton knocking out the Russian.
Meanwhile, Oliveira missed out on two chances to rematch Makhachev before losing a close split decision to Arman Tsarukyan in a title shot at UFC 300 in April.
