UFC president Dana White says the reports that a rematch between Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira headlining UFC 297 are false.
White told ESPN, that "anything is possible, it whenever both are ready" in terms of who and when Makhachev might fight again.
Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira 2 will not headline UFC 297 next month in Toronto, per Dana White.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) November 5, 2023
As of now, Oliveira does appear to be the most likely 155 challenger, although White tells ESPN, 'Anything is possible, it's whenever both are ready.'
This news comes one day after Ariel Helwani reported it was in the works for UFC 297 in Toronto, Canada.
"The current plan - though not finalized just yet - is to have Islam Makhachev x Charles Oliveira 2 - headline UFC 297. That event, while not officially announced yet, is currently slated to Jan. 20 in Toronto," he tweeted. "The original plan for that main was Volkanovski x Topuria, but now the plan is for that to be on the February PPV."
Charles Oliveira, Ali Abdelaziz also say fight is not happening at UFC 297
Oliveira also refuted the news of the booking saying, “I don’t have any planned, scheduled fights at the moment," while appearing on the UFC Sao Paulo's post-event show (h/t MMA Junkie). “We just heard this from the locker room. People were asking us on the messages about getting it. This is the first time we heard about it. That’s the timeline, January maybe. So who knows?”
Makhachev's manager Ali Abdelaziz also says the report of a booking is "fake news" on Twitter.
So don't buy your tickets just yet.
Right now, it appears as the though the headliner for the card might be a women's bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva.