Kamaru Usman Will Now Fight Khamzat Chimaev In The UFC 294 Co-Main Event

Holy shit! In the past 24 hours, we've gone from Islam Makhachev vs Charles Oliveira II and Paulo Costa vs Khamzat Chimaev as our UFC 294 main/co-main to Islam Makhachev vs Alexander Volkanovski II and Kamaru Usman vs Khamzat Chimaev.

Both replacement fights were made due to unfortunate circumstances - a brutal cut in Charles Oliveira's case/bursitis surgery in Costa's - but honestly? I think both of these new bouts are actually upgrades over the original. 

No disrespect to Oliveira or Costa, but slotting Usman in for Costa gives Chimaev a MUCH better all-around test, and Volkanovski sure as hell came closer to besting Islam than Oliveira did. Fighting on 10 days notice will likely hinder their performances a bit, but both Volk and Usman are such next level fighters that I still have the utmost faith in them putting on a show.

Credit to the UFC for thinking quick and completely saving this card - I'm as excited for this one as any other card this year.