Even King Kong is welcome to face Islam Makhachev at 155-pounds, joked Khabib Nurmagomedov as he reacted to news of Charles Oliveira's withdrawal from UFC 294. 

Khabib, the long-time training partner and mentor for Makhachev, is now preparing his man to fight Alexander Volkanovski again after the Australian accepted the bout on 11 days notice. 

The former undefeated UFC champion posted a video on social media reacting to the news. 

He said: 'Ok, this is the situation brother. Islam is the world champion right now. If somebody can make 155-pounds and the UFC says they are a contender, who cares? 

'It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter who. If King Kong can make 155-pounds, ok, bring this guy here! 

Makhachev interjects: 'I'd smash him too.'

Before Khabib continues: 'Like I told Ali (Abdelaziz), I told Islam, brother it doesn't matter, you're the world champion. Volk, Charles, Poirier, Justin... it doesn't matter. 

'It's supposed to be Charles? Ok he pulled out but we already beat him and we don't care about this. 

'But if they want Volk again, first fight was very good, a very competitive fight but we know and their team knows we won a unanimous decision - it was not even a split decision, it was a unanimous decision. 

'Yes, Volk was looking good in that fight but he lost. And he knows, his team knows and all the world knows he lost. They want to bring him in again, we're here. 

'Islam is always on weight, on point and ready to go. We have five more hard days of training and we're ready for Abu Dhabi. Let's go!'

Oliveira was ruled out of the rematch with the lightweight champion after suffering a nasty cut above his right eye during sparring on Monday. 

And Dana White revealed it only took one phone call for Volkanovski to accept the bout on short notice, despite also recently undergoing surgery for an arm injury in July. 

Clearly confidence is sky high with Khabib and Makhachev regardless of the opponent and it will be fascinating to see if the performance backs it up in Abu Dhabi next Saturday.