"See you in Abu Dhabi” - Surging lightweight contender confirmed as back-up for Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira at UFC 294

Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira will fight in the main event of UFC 294 later this month, with both men traveling to Abu Dhabi ahead of the lightweight title clash.

The promotion has yet to officially announce the backup fighter for the pay-per-view main event. However, surging lightweight contender Mateusz Gamrot took to X (formerly Twitter) to share that he would too be traveling to Abu Dhabi.

Following UFC Vegas 80 last night, Dana White was asked to confirm or deny Gamrot's claim that he was the backup fighter for the fight between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira.

The promotion's president said this:

"Yeah, sure.... yeah, I said yeah. It's true."

Watch the video below from 2:55:

Mateusz Gamrot took to X and wrote this:

"See you in Abu Dhabi"

Screenshot of Gamrot's tweet

Gamrot is fresh off of a a second-round TKO win against Rafael Fiziev, after 'Ataman' tore his ACL while throwing a kick, forcing the referee to intervene.

After UFC Vegas 79, 'Gamer' received criticism for celebrating after Fiziev's injury, with fans and fighters believing it to be distasteful.

Gamrot's two-fight winning streak was enough for the UFC to grant him the backup position, with the only other possible contender being Justin Gaethje.

'The Highlight' would no doubt want to have a full training camp behind him should he have the chance to fight for the title, given his statement that he will have one more run at the lightweight belt before possibly retiring.

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Islam Makhachev claims Charles Oliveira tried to avoid the UFC 294 clash

Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira will face off in UFC 294's main event to decide the lightweight champion. The pair have faced off once before, at UFC 280, where Makhachev submitted Oliveira in the second round.

Both men went on to win their next fight, with Makhachev taking on Alexander Volkanovski, whilst Oliveira more recently faced off against Beneil Dariush.

Following the Brazilian's win over Dariush, at UFC 289, he stated that he wouldn't be ready for another fight before November.

Several weeks later the UFC 294 main event between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira was announced, leading to speculation that 'Do Bronx' was forced to accept the fight.

Makhachev now appears to have confirmed the speculation, as he said this during a recent interview:

"He tried to [run away] from this fight, but the UFC told him, 'Hey man, you have to come to Abu Dhabi and fight for the belt.' And that's it. He tried to leave, he tried to move the fight to Brazil, but in the end he did what the UFC say. Same for me, what the UFC told me, I did."

Watch the video below from 4:15:

As both the fighters prepare for the UFC 294 battle, one would expect it to be a tight battle and it won't be easy to predict the winner.