“Someone was struggling” – Alexander Volkanovski reveals “late-night call” from UFC suggested UFC 280 main event was in jeopardy
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Alexander Volkanovski reveals shocking news about main event at UFC 280
UFC 280 main event fight was in trouble according to the backup fighter, Alexander Volkanovski. The featherweight champion reveals he got a “late-night” call from the promotion to ask him about his weight.
UFC 280 is one of the most-anticipated PPV events of all time. The lightweight title fight headliner event is held at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The main event between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev was just too good to be real! Very rarely do we get to see two fighters in their prime fight for the title?
Alexander Volkanovski, the backup fighter for this fight was called up late at night and asked about his weight as the promotion believed one of Oliveira or Makhachev was having troubles regarding their weight. Volkanovski himself knew the chances of him getting a title shot this weekend were slim but this phone call has made the featherweight champ get on the scales.
Talking to BT Sport, the featherweight champion revealed, “Without giving too much away, we got asked if we were still on pretty late at night. Obviously, someone was struggling a little bit.” Alexander Volkanovski was hesitant to reveal the name of the fighter which leaves the fans to be the body-language experts and assume based on the weigh-in condition of Oliveira and Makhachev.
The Featherweight Champ @alexvolkanovski says his team were still asked 'late last night' if his 155lbs target was still on course ?#UFC280 | Saturday, 7PM | BT Sport Box Office pic.twitter.com/BKIYQKjOxz
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) October 21, 2022
Related: Zubaira Takhugov, Khabib’s teammate has his bout against Lucas Almedia CALLED OFF for UFC 280
Alexander Volkanovski, Charles Oliveira, and Islam Makhachev hit the scale successfully ahead of UFC 280
Lucky for the fans, the main event is still on. Despite the struggles one of the two fighters might have faced ahead of their weigh-ins, both, Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev successfully weighed in at 154.5 earlier today. In fact, Oliveira and his crew updated that they had already made weight earlier than the scheduled time.
The Brazilian and his entire crew put in a lot of effort to make sure that the weigh-in mishap does not take place again as it occurred at UFC 274. Makhachev and Oliveira will now fight each other in a five-round title fight and claim the vacant lightweight title.
Alexander Volkanovski as the backup fighter for the main event has also successfully made championship weight. Even if one of the main event fighters does fall apart, we have the pound-for-pound best in the world filling in for them. You don’t get to see that often. UFC 280 is set!
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Prateek Athanur
(2974 Articles Published)