The UFC 294 Lightweight Championship just got a massive update from Dana White. The challenger and former champ Charles Oliveira is out, and Alexander Volkanovski will replace him and try to avenge his loss against Islam Makhachev to become only the fifth simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history.

The backstory of the UFC 294 saga is this: Islam Makhachev defeated then-Lightweight-Champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 last October. In February, Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski moved up to 155 lbs to challenge Makhachev and lost via unanimous decision at UFC 284.

Volkanovski has proven complete dominance over the UFC Featherweight division after beating UFC legend Max Holloway three times. His next challenge is a new weight class. He is the undisputed best featherweight in the world, and by any definition, he's the best featherweight fighter in the history of the UFC.

As for Oliveira, Dana White confirmed that the Brazilian grappling specialist suffered a laceration above his eyebrow while sparring Monday night. Oliveira and his team planned to fly to Abu Dhabi, the site of UFC 294 on Tuesday. The sparring injury required stitches, however, and Olivera won't be able to fight on Oct. 21.

The Brazilian is maybe the most electric fighter in all of mixed martial arts. UFC fans are lucky the middle divisions of the promotion are so stacked that an Oliveira-Makhachev fight can be replaced by something as exciting as a Volkanovski-Makhachev fight.

No doubt, the winner of the UFC 294 Featherweight Championship will face Oliveira to defend his title. Makhachev has already expressed his intentions to move up a weight class after defending his lightweight belt, but it's highly likely he won't do so unless he has a chance to confirm his superiority over Oliveira in another title bout.

If Volkanovski wins the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 294, he immediately vaults into the upper echelon of the sport's greatest athletes. In that case, there would be a highly-charged triangle of Volkanovski-Makhachev-Oliveira each scrapping for indisputable rights to the lightweight belt. For all of these reason, the lightweight division is, and has been for a long time, the most entertaining division in mixed martial arts.

UFC 294 promises to be a show, because it's Islam Makhachev defending his title against one of the greatest fighters of all time. Either way, Makhachev facing Oliveira or Volkanovski is guaranteed to be a classic five-round bout.