Head trainer of the AKA gym and mentor of the UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhacheva Javier Mendez commented on the information that Charles Oliveira withdrew from the fight against his ward, and Islam became his new opponent Alex Volkanovski.
“I just woke up and found out that the fight with Charles was cancelled... Alex ended up taking the fight, which is great. I didn’t have a chance to talk about it because everyone was sleeping. I have not communicated with Habib, Islam, or anyone else about this matter. I wanted the rematch with Volkanovski to happen, and it will happen sooner than I thought... Respect to Volkanovski for taking this fight on short notice, because this is the most anticipated rematch in UFC history. I officially declare this to be the greatest rematch between champions of all time.”
