A cursed tournament? Not at all! UFC 294 may have lost Paulo Costa, but Chimaev got one hell of a replacement from management!

The next UFC 294 gala is taking another hit. After Charles Oliveira had to withdraw from the main event due to health complications, the tournament loses another Brazilian star. Paulo Costa won’t be stepping in for his fight with Khamzat Khimaev, but the brass has gotten more than a great replacement.

Is the UFC 294 gala cursed?

It was supposed to be one of the tournaments of the year! But a few days before it kicks off, it’s getting some serious cracks. First fans missed out on the main event of the night, now a fighter from the main preliminary card has dropped out. Has some kind of curse befallen the gala?

On Wednesday, we told you about the huge shock that Charles Oliveira caused. The former Brazilian champion announced that he would not be part of the UFC 294 gala taking place on October 21 in Abu Dhabi. At the said event, he was supposed to face Islam Makhachev in a rematch for the lightweight championship exactly one year later.

However, he clashed heads with the sparring-partner in training, which required several stitches and the fight was abandoned. But the management managed to find an interesting replacement, so we get a new rematch from February this year with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

The main event of the night has also been changed

But another Brazilian has added wrinkles to UFC President Dana White’s forehead. That’s because Paulo Costa shared a post on his social media, announcing that he had undergone elbow surgery three weeks ago.

Of course, speculation immediately arose among fans as to whether the Brazilian would be in the fight with Chimaev. These were then confirmed during the Contender Series by Dana White himself, who admitted that the main event was in jeopardy as well.

Chimaev reacted to the information on the X platform, who in his post took a screenshot of the top of the middleweight division. He wrote on the post that he is willing to fight any of the mentioned fighters and tagged the UFC president.

Paulo Costa originally wanted to deny all the speculation via X as well. “I’m definitely not pulling out of the fight. Let me fight that f**king Chechen s**ch. I’m already here in Abu Dhabi and I’m getting ready,” he sent a clear message to all the doubters. However, a few hours later, he did confirm that the doctors would not allow him to go into action.

A few dozen minutes passed and Dana White announced a huge bombshell via live feed. Chimaev’s new opponent would be the number one welterweight in the division, Kamaru Usman.

“The Nigerian Nightmare” returns after a two-fight losing streak to welterweight champion Leon Edwards and jumps straight into the welterweight division just like Chimaev. There has been an avalanche of positive reactions on social media, calling the new fight even better than the one originally announced.

Either way, UFC management has once again shown incredible work and replaced the fight with an at least equally interesting opponent. Costa thus continues a fight inactivity that has lasted for over a year. Chimaev last fought in September 2022, when he “choked out” Kevin Holland in two minutes. So a quick replacement is certainly welcome.

Source: UFC, Twitter/X