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A look at where Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev stand ahead of their UFC 280 main event

The UFC has been without a lightweight champion since May. That’s when the promotion stripped Charles Oliveira of his 155-pound crown. The UFC’s actions came after Oliveira, who won the title at UFC 262 and defended the belt at UFC 269, checked in eight ounces over the 155-pound limit for his matchup opposite Justin Gaethje. Oliveira has the opportunity to regain that belt on Saturday when he faces Islam Makhachev for that vacant title in the main event of UFC 280.

Oliveira joined the UFC in 2010 with a 12-0 record. The then 20-year-old wasted no time in making his presence known. In that matchup, Oliveira submitted Darren Elkins in 41 seconds, earning his first of many submission wins, his first fight-night bonus and put his name in the UFC lightweight record book. More than 12 years later, Oliveira has added some incredible accomplishments to his resume, including winning and defending the UFC lightweight crown.

Makhachev first fought for the UFC in 2015. He joined the promotion with a 12-0 record. After a 1-1 start with the UFC, the protege of Khabib Nurmagomedov began to rack up win after win, rise in the official UFC lightweight rankings and establish himself as a hard to hit competitor with an incredibly heavy and controlling top game on the mat. At UFC 280. the 31-year-old gets his first crack at the title his coach, Nurmagomedov, held from April 2018 until he retired with a 29-0 record in October 2020.

Before Oliveira and Makhachev face off at the top of the UFC 280 pay-per-view card, we look at where the two fighters stand in the UFC record book heading into the event, which streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNEWS.

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One fighter from UFC 280 missed weight.

The UFC is in Abu Dhabi this week with a fight card with a good handful of fascinating match-up. Chief among them is the main event which pits former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira (whose reign ended on a technicality) against the ruthless Islam Makhachev, who will have former champ Khabib Nurmagomedov in his corner.

The co-main event is another title fight. For this one UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling (who has lost a lot of fans thanks to the company he keeps as of late) defending against former champ T.J. Dillashaw (who seems to be gaining fans thanks to his handling of his past indiscretions).

Before the title fights there are two quasi-title eliminators with Petr Yan vs. Sean O’Malley in the bantamweight division and Beneil Dariush vs. Mateusz Gamrot in the lightweight division. Rounding out the PPV card is the exciting prospect Manon Fiorot, who will be tested by Katlyn Chookagian.

The pick of the prelims is Belal Muhammad vs. Sean Brady in the welterweight division. There’s also Nikita Krylov vs. Volkan Oezdemir, which shouldn’t disappoint.

Before any of this happens, though, the fighters must make it through the weigh-ins unscathed. Last time Oliveira was faced with this situation he lost his lightweight title. So there might be some drama on the scales again today. Remember, all four fighters in the championship bouts must hit their marks without a one pound allowance in order to compete for gold.

You can watch how all this unfolds in the live stream below, provided by our friends at MMA Fighting. The stream goes live at 1 a.m. ET.

The ceremonial weigh-ins will air at 8 a.m. ET. You can watch those below:

Full results:

Main card (4 p.m. on ESPN)

Lightweight championship: Charles Oliveira (154.5) vs. Islam Makhachev (154.5)

Bantamweight championship: Aljamain Sterling (135) vs. T.J. Dillashaw (135)

Petr Yan (136) vs. Sean O’Malley (135.5)

Beneil Dariush (156) vs. Mateusz Gamrot (156)

Katlyn Chookagian (127.5)** vs. Manon Fiorot (125.5)

Prelim card (11 a.m. on ESPN+)

Belal Muhammad (170) vs. Sean Brady (171)

Makhmud Muradov (185.5) vs. Caio Borralho (186)

Volkan Oezdemir (206) vs. Nikita Krylov (206)

Abubakar Nurmagomedov (170.5) vs. Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (171)

Armen Petrosyan (186) vs. AJ Dobson (185)

Malcolm Gordon (126) vs. Muhammad Mokaev (126)

Karol Rosa (135) vs. Lina Lansberg (135)

Main event back up: Alexander Volkanovski (155)

* Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Lucas Almeida announced to be cancelled due to “weight management issues.”

** Chookagian missed weight

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The bantamweight belt is now only available to contender Fabricio Andrade at ONE on Prime Video 3.

John Lineker’s weight problems still appear to be a very present concern in his MMA career. During the ONE on Prime Video 3’s official weigh-ins, ‘Hands of Stone’ suffered harsh consequences for missing the promotion’s bantamweight limit by 0.5 pounds and was stripped of his belt, MMA Fighting reports.

This is the sixth time Lineker has missed weight in his career and the first one since he joined ONE in 2019. The last time the 32-year-old had problems with the scale took place in October 2016, when he faced and defeated John Dodson by split decision. Still undefeated at ONE, the Brazilian knocked out Bibiano Fernandes to win the title in March of this year.

In a statement to MMA Fighting, Lineker’s manager reports that an issue with the scale calibration in the fighter’s hotel room previous to weigh-ins caused the miss. It’s a similar explanation to the one provided by UFC champion Charles Oliveira ahead of his bout against Justin Gaethje, when Oliveira missed weight by .5 lbs and was stripped of his lightweight title.

“When a fighter doesn’t make weight at ONE, he goes back to square zero because he has to make weight and pass the hydration test,” Lineker’s manager Alex Davis told MMA Fighting. “That mistake happened because his scale was off in his room, lighter than the official one. When that happens, you have a second attempt to make weight but you have to pass the hydration test again. He couldn’t do it.

“Having two attempts to make weight in three hours is a bit complicated. That’s the rule and we’ll respect it. Fabricio accepted the fight, and we’ll see John’s situation after the fight.”

Although the fight was not cancelled after Lineker’s misadventure, the promotion’s bantamweight belt will only be contested for by challenger Fabricio Andrade, who hit championship weight without issue. The 25-year-old earned the chance to fight for the title after putting together a five-fight win streak under ONE’s banner.

Lineker is expected to take on Andrade at ONE on Prime Video 3’s main event, on October 21st. The card is scheduled to take place at the Axiata Arena, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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“I want to do more title defense. And jump to the other division.”

Islam Makhachev has a chance to step into his own with a victory over Charles Oliveira at UFC 280, with the feared Dagestani looking to surpass Khabib Nurmagomedov in title defenses should he claim the vacant lightweight championship in Abu Dhabi.

Khabib is widely considered the greatest lightweight champion of all time but has faced criticism as of late due to his lack of title defenses and early retirement. ‘The Eagle’ defended his lightweight title three times (tied with B.J. Penn, Frankie Edgar, and Benson Henderson) before retiring in 2020 following the passing of his father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.

Makhachev has no rivalry with Nurmagomedov, having trained with the latter from an early age, but he plans to do things a little differently as champion, aiming for more title defenses and a move up to welterweight in hopes of winning a second world championship.

“I want to do more title defense,” Makhachev told reporters ahead of UFC 280 (h/t BJPenn.com). “And jump to the other division.”

Speaking of his UFC 280 opponent Oliveira, Makhachev plans to make an emphatic statement by finishing the submission specialist and BJJ black belt on the ground.

“This is my goal: finish him in the ground because I have to show all people my grappling level,” he said.

UFC 280: Oliveira vs. Makhachev takes place this Saturday, October 22, at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

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You can almost hear the guy go “plink“ when that shot connects. Watch.

Oh, hi there.

Yeah, we had you waiting for a bit. Your boy was caught up with stuff and partying it up in Miami for carnival, but that doesn’t mean he forgot about you. Now we’re back with some amazing bits and pieces of the martial arts fringes and the tangentially related action outside of MMA.

So we begin where we usually do, with our guy Jerry at Fight Commentary Breakdowns. This time, it’s time for Tang Soo Do to get a bit of shine. An MMA bout with modified rules to allow for limited ground time has a generalist MMA fighter against a Tang Soo Do practitioner. Any guesses as to how this one goes?

Interestingly enough, it goes pretty well. What we get is a very competitive bouts with some wild exchanges and some experimentation. The Tang Soo Do isn’t a fish out of water here, but you get to see some elements of his base play out here in practice.

A bit early, but this might be the coolest thing I’ve seen all month. Judo Highlights brings us this highlight vid of a France vs Japan event, and it’s outstanding.

It’s brilliant, and perhaps a little tough to appreciate if you haven’t trained in Judo in some capacity. But even without that frame of reference, there’s a lot to love here. Technique and drive reign supreme, and the dramatics of the team dynamic are palpable. Check it out, you might learn a thing or two.

And just to keep things in the Judo world, here’s a series of highlights of the top Ippons courtesy of Japanese Judo. Some of these moments are remarkably satisfying, considering the level that these competitors are at.

Next up, more grappling. This time, it’s courtesy of SAMBOFIAS. We’ve got select matches from the European Youth and Junior championships. And boy howdy, there’s a lot to chew on.

Sweet kneebar setup and finish on this one:

This one’s got a lovely armbar setup that leads to a clean finish:

Here’s another excellent armbar setup at the end:

You’ll never guess how this one ends. Lots of scrambling and hectic action with a big ending:

We can’t go long without Dambé action around here, and I know you’ve been starving for some of it. Lucky for you, we’ve got the remedy for that. First up, A very chaotic Dambé Warriors matchup. Stick around for another frenzied bonus match in the same vid:

And here’s what Dambe Warriors has listed as their fastest knockout to date. Man brought out the YOPPER and put that other cat to sleep harder than Nytol:

The precision and execution there were picture perfect. Dambé remains thrilling and amazing.

Finally, we’re gonna end with a true precious nugget from the heathen era that was the 90s. We’ll be reminiscing on WMAC Masters, a TV series that involved some serious martial artists like Hakim Alston, Chris Casamassa and Ho Sung Pak (a.k.a. Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat 1 & 2). Hosted by Shannon Lee (yes, that Shannon Lee), the show was an action drama with arena fights pitting competitors against hordes of masked and nameless ninjas as well as 1 on 1 battles. Was it as weird as it sounds? No. It was in fact weirder.

So now that we’ve clarified what it was, here’s an absurdly 90s music video tribute to the show and performers:

That’s all we had in the tank this week, kids. You might feel a bit down, but at least you weren’t dumb enough to buy Parler. And remember – you might think you can fight, but there are many guys like you all over the world.

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The Show Money crew is back to spew their sometimes educated, sometimes random theories on the only show exclusively dedicated to the business of MMA.

The Show Money crew is Paul Gift, “the economist”, Jason Cruz, “the lawyer”, and John Nash, “Bloody Elbow’s Financials Columnist”, who also happens to be the man who knows everyone and everything in MMA. They bring you the business side of MMA, in depth, in a way you won’t find anywhere else!

In this episode the issues discussed include:

Segment 1
Antitrust hearing for Kajan Johnson & C.B. Dollaway case against the UFC

Segment 2 — At 45:58
ONE Championship’s finances

Segment 3 — At 1:05:25
Ariel Helwani’s interview with Chatri Sityodtong (CEO of ONE Championship)

For the actual interview, click on the player below, for the specific BE question skip ahead to the 21:50 mark…

Be sure and follow Paul at @MMAanalytics, John at @heynottheface, and Jason at @dilletaunt for all of their twitter musings.

CHECK OUT THE AUDIO PODCAST OF THE SHOW ON BLOODY ELBOW PRESENTS SOUNDCLOUD CHANNEL:

If you enjoy our shows, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, and give us a “like”, share & subscribe on your BE Presents Podcast platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music – For previous episodes, check out our playlists on any of our BE Presents channels.

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Does the winner inch closer to a title shot rematch against Valentina Shevchenko ?

Jéssica Andrade is returning to flyweight for her next UFC fight.

Mike Heck and Damon Martin of MMA Fighting have reported that Andrade and Lauren Murphy are expected to share the Octagon at UFC 283, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for Jan. 21, 2023, at Jeunesse Arena in Brazil.

Following a successful debut at flyweight, Andrade earned a championship opportunity against Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 261, where she suffered a second-round TKO loss. She rebounded with a first-round TKO of Cynthia Calvillo in her next appearance, but opted to return to strawweight recently.

The former strawweight champion submitted Amanda Lemos with the first-ever standing arm-triangle choke in UFC history at UFC Vegas 52 this past April.

Murphy returned to the win column with a unanimous decision over Miesha Tate at UFC Long Island in July. Prior to that, ‘Lucky’ had a five-fight win streak snapped by the aforementioned Shevchenko, who finished her by fifth-round TKO for her sixth defense. Now in contention again, the 39-year-old hoped to get Andrade next, as she sees this fight being a potential No. 1 contender.

Murphy and Andrade are ranked at No. 3 and No. 4 in the division, respectively.

With the addition of Andrade vs. Murphy, UFC 283 has seven confirmed fights. Here is the current line-up:

• Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno
• Maurício ‘Shogun’ Rua vs. Ihor Potieria
• Paul Craig vs. Johnny Walker
• Josiane Nunes vs. Zarah Fairn Dos Santos
• Gregory Rodrigues vs. Brad Tavares
• Mounir Lazzez vs. Gabriel Bonfim
• Jéssica Andrade vs. Lauren Murphy

Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more updates to the event as they become available in the coming weeks.

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Charles Oliveira doesn’t think his opponent deserves to be there at UFC 280.

In the main event of UFC 280 Charles Oliveira will battle Islam Makhachev for the vacant UFC lightweight title. The belt had of course been in Oliveira’s possession until a snafu on at UFC 274 resulted in the Brazilian vacating the title on the scales.

‘Do Bronx’ went on to win at UFC 274, stopping Justin Gaethje, to ensure the title remained vacant. His chance to reclaim the belt comes at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi against a man Oliveira doesn’t think deserves to be there.

During his pre-fight press conference Oliveira explained why he thinks Makhachev has been given a chance to fight for gold.

“I think Islam deserves all the respect in the world,” he said (ht MMA Junkie), “but I think he should’ve fought somebody maybe in the top five like I did, not just surf on someone else’s wave and skip the line like he did.”

Oliveira then clarified that he thinks Makhachev’s title shot is because of his close friendship with former champ Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“For sure, this fight is only happening because of him,” he said.

“It’s for the history and for everything (Khabib has) done,” Oliveira continued. “If it was any other guy, he would’ve had to walk the walk that I had to walk, knocking on people’s doors trying to get into a top-five (match-up). The reason why this fight is happening is because of him. That’s the real.”

Regardless of why he was matched up with Makhachev, Oliveira said he was confident of being able to finish Nurmagomedov’s protege and restart his reign as UFC champion.

“I’m ready. I think anyone needs to believe and want whatever is best for them. If we go down to the ground, he’s basically facing the biggest finisher in the UFC. If he wants to stand up, we’re gonna stand up. I’m here to make history again.”

After years of inconsistent performances, Oliveira hit his stride as a UFC lightweight in 2018. Since that year he’s gone 11-0 and claimed a number of gaudy records including most finishes and most performance of the night awards in UFC history.

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UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka says he spent three days in the dark with no food as part of his meditation.

UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka isn’t cut from the same cloth as many of his peers. The Czech standout employs out-of-the-box training methods, which include punching a tree 500 times a day.

The 30-year-old fighter recently appeared on The MMA Hour where he talked about another unusual practice. This time, it involves being in the dark for three straight days with no food.

“That’s all in darkness for three days, and there you can work with your demons and train what you want. I don’t want to talk about a lot, because that’s like my personal things,” he told Ariel Helwani.

“That’s the biggest fun, because you have to go to the point where time is ending, and I can’t speak about that, because it’s so, not intense, for me, these things are so personal … and holy.”

For Prochazka, it is a form of meditation to get him battle-tested and ready for every situation, at least mentally.

“It’s very helpful. There is just you and you. No other people. That was my first time when I did that without food, so just with water. It’s much more strong when you’re without food. All the processes in your body is much stronger. Your mind’s working a lot, and you have to die here first.

“And three days, four days, that’s not so much. But I’m using that just to recognize who I am really, and then I can start training and pushing to the next level with truly me, more honestly.”

Prochazka won the 205-pound title from Glover Teixeira via last-minute submission at UFC 275 in March. The two are slated for a rematch at UFC 282 in December.

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Check out the first episode of Embedded for UFC 280.

UFC 280 is almost here, and as usual, Embedded is here as well. The show that gives you an inside look at the marquee contestants on PPVs has issued the first episode for this weekend’s big show in Abu Dhabi, and gives as a brief introduction to the fighters at the top of the card.

Charles Oliveira is doing ssome boxing outside. He says that he respects his opponent, but thinks he’s been riding on Khabib’s coattails a bit. He thinks Khabib is the only reason Makhachev got the fight at all. He said he’s taken out the whole top fight, while Islam hasn’t fought anyone there. It will be over in the first round.

Makhachev is working out with Belal Muhammad and some other guys. They played some games to wind down. He thinks it’s his time, in front of his supporters.

Aljamain Sterling can’t wait to perform. Leon Edwards is there too. He thinks T.J. Dillashaw is a legacy fight. He’s going to win and take care of his family.

Back to Oliveira. They added a strong wrestler to the team, who they feel was the missing piece.

Over to the fighter hotel with Sean O’Malley. They’re training more specifically for an opponent than normal because Petr Yan is so good.

Now to Yan. He says he had a good camp and just did his regular thing. He wants his title back. His coach believes Yan is better everywhere. Yan has had good luck in Abu Dhabi, and will take with his fists to make it continue.

And that’s it! UFC 280 goes down this Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

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