UFC 280: Alexander Volkanovski confirmed as backup for Charles Oliveira vs Islam Makhachev

Alexander Volkanovski has confirmed that he will serve as the official “backup” for Charles Oliveira’s upcoming fight with Islam Makhachev.

Oliveira, 32, and Makhachev, 31, will go toe-to-toe next weekend for the vacant UFC lightweight title.

It was previously held by the Brazilian before he lost it on the scales before his fight with Justin Gaethje.

The pair will clash on October 22 in the main event of UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

READ MORE: UFC 280: Date, Fight Card, Location, Tickets and more

And Volkanovski, who is the current UFC featherweight champion, has revealed that he will be ready to step in at a moment’s notice just in case anyone decides to pull out at the last second.

“We’re locked in as a backup fighter,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel. “I’ve been calling it, I said I wanted it, just had to make sure the hand was all good, so we’re all good.

“We’re locked in, and we got the clearance to fight.

“The UFC is on board, everyone is on board, so I’ll be at UFC 280 to make weight, and yeah, looking forward to it. We’ll see what happens. If someone doesn’t make it, I’m there to save the day.

“If not, at least I’m locked in as the next guy to fight for that lightweight title, and that’s that.”

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However, Volkanovski’s coach Joe Lopez did admit that it took them a bit by surprise at first.

“Well the camp is going to be pretty hard to structure actually,” he added. “Because like you said, there’s two different opponents, there’s two different styles. One’s southpaw, one’s orthodox.

“We’ve only had four weeks to prepare for this fight. We’re only the backup fighter. But yeah, it’s not