Alexander Volkanovski

Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira was forced to withdraw from his 155-pound title fight against reigning champ Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 on Oct. 21, but the company quickly found an exciting replacement.

UFC president Dana White confirmed to ESPN's Marc Raimondi that UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will step in on 11 days' notice to face Makhachev in Abu Dhabi.

The fight between Volkanovski (26-2) and Makhachev (24-1) will be a rematch from their clash at UFC 284 in February. Makhachev won by unanimous decision in a fight that was considered to be one of the best in the history of the lightweight division. While Volkanovski failed in his bid to become a two-division champion, he remains one spot ahead of Makhachev in the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings.

"This is how we do it, brother," White said. "One fight falls out and we end up making a fight -- it's one of the most anticipated rematches ever in that weight class."

White noted that Oliveira and his team were slated to fly to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, but he ended up sustaining a cut on his eyebrow during sparring on Monday night. The cut required stitches and was serious enough to force Oliveira out of the fight. However, it took just "one phone call" for White to convince Volkanovski to take his place.

"The Volkanovski crew, him and Israel [Adesanya], these guys are absolute studs, man," White said.

Makhachev enters the fight riding a 12-fight win streak. Volkanovski bounced back from his loss in February by retaining his featherweight title with a third-round TKO victory over Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 in July.

EA Sports announced on Thursday that gamers who preorder the deluxe edition of UFC 5 will receive fighting legends Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali and Fedor Emelianenko, among others.

The game is scheduled to release on Oct. 27, a little over three years after UFC 4's release in Aug. 2020.

It will utilize the Frostbite Engine for the first time and includes a new Real Impact System, new striking animations, a reworked submission system and new cinematic knockout replays.

"UFC 5 is the most realistic MMA experience fans can have outside of the Octagon," UFC president Dana White said in a press release. "This game is incredible and truly a next-generation UFC experience."

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will be on the deluxe edition cover, while UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Shevchenko are on the standard edition cover.

When Israel Adesanya graced the cover of UFC 4 three years ago, he was considered a rising up-and-comer.

Now, standing as arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, Adesanya is back on the cover for UFC 5.

EA Sports announced Stylebender as the deluxe cover athlete for UFC 5, with Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Shevchenko serving as the standard edition cover athletes.

UFC's last video game release came all the way back in August 2020 and marks the longest stretch between games in the series' history. EA Sports launched its UFC series in 2014, with each subsequent release coming two years later.

The COVID-19 pandemic and launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles were the main culprits in a slower development period between UFC 4 and UFC 5.

Details on the upcoming release are still being rolled out. EA Sports says to expect more concrete details later this week, and expect fight fans to rabidly look to pick up the game upon its release later this year.

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is doing well after undergoing surgery on his left arm Monday.

Volkanovski's manager, Ash Belcastro, relayed the news to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani.

"UFC featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski had surgery on his left arm yesterday," Helwani tweeted.

"His manager Ash Belcastro told me all went well. He just needs six weeks of rehab and then straight back to full contact training. He's been dealing with that injury for a year, he said, and it became "unbearable" during this fight camp."

Volkanovski just defended and unified the UFC featherweight championship after defeating Yair Rodriguez via third-round TKO on July 8.

Volkanovski recently rolled to a 22-match win streak that included four featherweight title defenses and an initial win for the belt against UFC Hall of Famer José Aldo in 2019. He then tried his hand at gunning for the lightweight title and gave a great effort against Islam Makhachev before falling via unanimous decision in February.

Despite the arm injury, the 34-year-old bounced back in a big way in July. He won the first two rounds against Rodriguez on all three judges' scorecards before finishing off the match at 4:19 of the third round. Volkanovski earned 66 significant strikes to Rodriguez's 40 and earned seven takedowns to his opponent's zero, per UFC Stats.

With the win, Volkanovski earned the top spot on ESPN MMA's men's pound-for-pound rankings. He's tied with heavyweight champion Jon "Bones" Jones on the UFC men's pound-for-pound list.

Ahead of a potential global phenomenon of an MMA fight between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter owner Elon Musk, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski praised Zuckerberg's fitness and MMA ability.

Speaking to TMZ Sports, Volkanovski guaranteed that people would be "very surprised" by the 39-year-old Zuckerberg's athleticism and fighting acumen.

The internet starting buzzing this week when UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya tweeted photos of himself, Volkanovski and a shirtless and in-shape Zuckerberg following a training session:

Volkanovski was personally impressed by Zuckerberg's condition, saying:

"As you can see from that photo, I think that's what raised a lot of eyebrows, he's in shape. I mean you can see it that he's in shape but he really is in shape. It's not just looks, he really is, mate. He trains, he's pretty athletic, he's coordinated and he's committed. He's got a passion for it."

Talk of a legitimate fight between Musk and Zuckerberg began last month when Musk tweeted, "I'm up for a cage match if he is lol," in reference to a report regarding Zuckerberg creating a competitor to Twitter called Threads. Zuckerberg responded, saying, "Send me location."

Musk later accepted an invitation from UFC legend Georges St-Pierre to train with him, and UFC heavyweight champion Jon "Bones" Jones offered to train with Zuckerberg as well.

While there have been varying opinions and reports regarding how likely a Zuckerberg vs. Musk fight actually is, Volkanovski believes Zuckerberg has legitimate interest, saying: "Man, I'm telling you he's serious. I don't know how serious Elon is, but I'm telling you, he's training!"

The 52-year-old Musk stands nearly 6'2", giving him a significant height advantage over the 5'7" Zuckerberg, although Zuckerberg is the younger and perhaps more athletic potential combatant.

While it may lack in terms of high-end grappling, UFC president Dana White believes Zuckerberg vs. Musk could be the biggest and most lucrative fight of all time, so there is plenty of incentive to make it a reality.