Former MMA champion takes aim at Charles Oliveira for “stupid” training methods that led to UFC 294 withdrawal: “He wasn’t wearing headgear”

Former MMA champion Josh Thomson has taken aim at Charles Oliveira for his training technique that contributed to him being forced out of UFC 294.

As we now know, Charles Oliveira will not be competing against Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 for the UFC middleweight championship. Instead, Alexander Volkanovski will take his place as a result of Oliveira sustaining a nasty cut in training.

RELATED: DANA WHITE EXPLAINS WHY CHARLES OLIVEIRA IS OUT OF UFC 294 AND HOW THE NEW MAIN EVENT CAME TOGETHER

In terms of what’s next, ‘Do Bronx’ will likely spend time recovering from his injury before once again pursuing a crack at the belt. Whether or not he’ll get it immediately, though, remains to be seen.

Josh Thomson is one of many who has had an opinion on what’s happened in the last week, and he made his views clear during a recent podcast appearance.

Thomson questions Charles Oliveira

“He wasn’t wearing headgear. Stupid, stupid,” Thomson said. “Look, headgear is not to protect you from getting knocked out, it’s to protect you from getting cut. I don’t understand. When I spent the money on that really expensive headgear that had the bigger cheek pads, more of the frame, went down more around my chin, it was just to avoid getting cuts.

“The reason why people get cut more towards the end of camp is because they don’t fight the same way at the end of camp because they’re concerned, like, ‘Next week’s the fight. I’m just gonna chill.’ They’re not being overly aggressive, so they’re one second behind, and that leaves their head in a position it wouldn’t normally be in,” Thomson continued. “Why are we doing a shark tank right before? You’re obviously in shape.”

Quotes via MMA News

What’s next for Charles Oliveira? Do you agree with Josh Thomson? Let us know, BJPENN Nation!