No Chimaev, No Problem, Cowboy Steps In At UFC 254

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

With Khamzat Chimaev not intrigued enough to put his “anyone, anywhere” motto to use in accepting Alex Oliveira’s recent call out, “Cowboy” is moving on. The Brazilian bomber has agreed to step in and face Shavkat Rakhmonov at the upcoming UFC 254 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Oct. 24, 2020.

According to a report from MMA Junkie, Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos has been forced out of his scheduled bout against Rakhmonov, which was scheduled to go down in the Welterweight division.

Oliveira is currently enjoying a two-fight win streak with wins over Max Griffin and Peter Sobotta. Prior to that, “Cowboy” dropped three straight in the span of nine months, putting him in danger of getting cut. But after turning it around, Oliveira is now staring down the barrel of three straight wins.

Rakhmonov, meanwhile, will make his much-anticipated debut after several postponements prior. The former M-1 Welterweight champion is undefeated at 12-0 so far in his career. What’s even more impressive — and worrisome for his future foes — is that all of his victories have come by way of stoppage, seven knockouts and five submissions.

In short, he comes, takes cares of business and moves on to the next.

A win for Oliveira should boost his stock a bit more in order to capture Chimaev’s interest, perhaps. Nevertheless, earning his third straight win over an undefeated foe is definitely good for his resume.

UFC 254 is set to feature the highly-anticipated Lightweight title unification bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje, as well as a Middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier.