UFC 294 takes shape as Islam Makhachev and Khamzat Chimaev get opponents for Abu Dhabi event

Islam Makhachev and Khamzat Chimaev will be the main attractions when the UFC returns to Abu Dhabi later this year.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protégé, Makhachev, will headline UFC 294 in a lightweight title rematch with Charles Oliveira.  

Makhachev first won the 155lb belt when he submitted ‘Do Bronx’ at UFC 280 in the Etihad Arena where they’ll meet again on October 21.

Since winning the title, the Russian fighter has defended it just once against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski who fell to a razor-thin decision defeat after five rounds of back-and-forth action at UFC 284 in February.

Oliveira rebounded from his first defeat since 2017 with an impressively quick first-round TKO win over top lightweight contender Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 in June.  

Before Oliveira gets a shot at redemption against Makhachev, Khamzat Chimaev will make his eagerly anticipated return to the Octagon after more than a year out of action.

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‘Borz’ hasn’t fought since last September when he ran through late-replacement opponent Kevin Holland after scuppering a UFC 279 fight with Nate Diaz by coming in 7lbs overweight.

The top welterweight contender will now be moving up a division to face former title challenger Paulo Costa in the co-main event of the evening.

‘Borrachinha' was supposed to fight Ikram Aliskerov at UFC 291 next weekend but that fight was scratched from the card headlined by Dustin Poirier vs Justin Gaethje 2 at the last minute.

Aliskerov was not left without an opponent for long as he was also added to UFC 294.

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Aliskerov will square off against Nassourdine Imavov in a battle between emerging middleweight contenders working their way toward a shot at Israel Adesanya’s title.

Imavov appeared to be on the brink of big things at 185lbs before being outpointed by Sean Strickland over five rounds and enduring a no-contest with Chris Curtis following an accidental head clash in 2023.

Aliskerov is being fast-tracked toward the middleweight top 15 after a seriously impressive knockout win over Phil Hawes in his debut which continued his impressive win streak.

The 14-1 fighter has been in rare form since suffering his first and only loss against Chimaev who knocked him out at Brave CF 23 in April 2019 before becoming a UFC superstar.

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