Islam Makhachev (25-1) maintains his place on the UFC lightweight throne by defeating Alexander Volkanovski (26-3) in their rematch with a 1^st round head kick to close UFC 294 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

With this victory, Makhachev has now defeated Volkanovski twice, with the previous win on February 11^th by a close unanimous decision. This is his second defense of the championship since he captured the gold from Charles Olivera at UFC 280.

Alexander Volkanovski entered this bout on 12 days’ notice, as the original opponent Charles Olivera had to back out of the fight after suffering an injury in practice.

In the co-main event, Khamzat Chimaev (13-0) continues his chase for UFC gold by defeating Kamaru Usman (20-4) by majority decision (2x 29-27, 28-28). This is his first fight since he defeated Kevin Holland by submission on September 12, 2022 at UFC 279.

This victory makes Chimaev the likely No.1 contender for the UFC Middleweight Championship, as Israel Adesanya has announced he will step away from the sport for a while and Dricus Du Plessis being out with a foot injury.

Khamzat Chimaev was originally scheduled to compete against Paulo Costa, but Costa needed to bow out of the bout because he suffered an infection on his elbow and needed surgery. With Costa being out, Kamaru Usman was willing to step up on 10 days’ notice to make his debut at middleweight.

Elsewhere on the main card, light heavyweight bout between Magomed Ankalaev (18-1-1) and Johnny Walker (21-7) ended in a no contest after an illegal knee to a grounded opponent. Ikram Aliskerov (15-1) defeated Warlley Alves (14-6) by TKO in the 1^st round. Lastly, Said Nurmagomedov (18-3) was victorious over Muin Gafurov (18-6) by submission in the 1^st round.

Prelims

Muhammed Mokaev def. Tim Elliott via 3^rd Round submission

Trevor Peek def. Mohammed Yahya via unanimous decision

Javid Basharat vs Victor Henry (No Contest)

Sedriques Dumas def. Abu Azaitar via unanimous decision

Mike Breeden def. Anshul Jubil via 3^rd Round KO

Muhammed Naimov def. Nathanial Wood via unanimous decision

Victoria Dudakove def. Jinh Yu Frey via unanimous decision

Shara Magomedov def. Bruno Silva via unanimous decision