So, just a couple weeks before the UFC is set to head to Abu Dhabi with a fairly marquee card, they lose BOTH their co-main event and main event to some unexpected misadventure. In this case, it was a cut to Charles Oliveira and surgery for Paulo Costa that forced them out of their respective bouts. This type of swerve might spell disaster for any other promoter, but not so for the UFC. When you’ve got the power and influence of an organization that controls more than 90% of your chosen market, you just reload, brother.
The UFC brought in featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski to take Oliveira’s place in a lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev and former welterweight titlist Kamaru Usman to sub in for Costa in a middleweight bout against Khamzat Chimaev. In other words, still pretty awesome.
Damn. Must be nice.
