Former undisputed ligthweight champion, Charles Oliveira has revealed he nonetheless plans to make a return to the Octagon in January of subsequent 12 months – regardless of Dana White not too long ago axing reported plans for him to tackle Islam Makhachev at UFC 297 that month in Toronto, Canada.
Oliveira, the present primary ranked light-weight contender and former undisputed division champion, withdrew from a scheduled rematch with the above-mentioned, Makhachev atop a UFC 294 pay-per-view card final month in Abu Dhabi, UAE, after struggling a nasty laceration throughout his closing sparring session forward of the bout.
Sidelined since June of this 12 months, Oliveira, essentially the most prolific finisher within the historical past of the promotion and in addition essentially the most prolific all-time submission risk, turned in a shocking first spherical floor strikes TKO win over perennial contender, Beneil Dariush within the pair’s championship eliminator in ‘The Nice White North’.
And over the course of the weekend, stories from Ariel Helwani revealed how presently the plan was to host a light-weight title rematch between Makhachev and Oliveira at UFC 297 on January 20. subsequent in Canada.
Nevertheless, yesterday night, UFC CEO, White rubbished that report, claiming that the bout would not be taking place at UFC 297 in January of next year, claiming it might solely occur when each groups had been prepared.
Moreover, Makhachev’s supervisor, Ali Abdelaziz claimed that his shopper could be able to compete once more as quickly as March 9. as an alternative.
Charles Oliveira addresses a possible January return
Showing in his native Sao Paulo over the course of the weekend to attend and nook at a UFC Struggle Evening billed card, Oliveira revealed he presently had no battle booked as he continues to get better from his laceration, nonetheless, confirmed plans to battle in January.
“It was fairly a deep minimize,” Charles Oliveira instructed ESPN. “We don’t have any scheduled fights in the mean time, so we are able to take our time to get a very good restoration. So, I would return into [training] inside per week or so.”
“We simply heard this within the locker room [reports of a rematch with Islam Makhachev at UFC 297],” Charles Oliveira defined. “Folks had been asking us in messages. That is the primary time we’ve heard about it. However that’s the timeline, January perhaps, so who is aware of?”
Do you anticipate to see Charles Oliveira battle at UFC 297 regardless?
