UFC 288: Charles Oliveira vs. Beneil Dariush postponed
An injury to Charles Oliveira causes postponement of his bout with Beneil Dariush, which was originally planned for UFC 288.
The scheduled UFC 288 co-main event featuring former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush is now off.
An undisclosed minor injury means that Oliveira will be unable to compete on May 6. No replacement will be found for Dariush, however, as the UFC will look to simply delay the bout until the soonest possible time.
Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes was the first to break the news. The UFC has not announced Oliveira's injury, and it is unclear what the new co-main event of UFC 288 is. A women's strawweight bout between Jessica Andrade and Yan Xiaonan was scheduled to precede Oliveira vs. Dariush in the bout order.
Oliveira's training will be limited for the next several weeks, and it is unknown if Oliveira will be ready in time for the fight to be held at UFC 289 on June 10 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Injury forces delay to Charles Oliveira vs. Beneil Dariush, will no longer happen at UFC 288
Oliveira, currently seated No. 1 in the UFC's lightweight rankings, most recently competed at UFC 280 in October. There, he saw an 11-fight win streak snap at the hands of Islam Makhachev, who submitted him in the second round of their main event for the vacant UFC lightweight championship.
Oliveira was the lightweight champion before Makhachev, winning the title with a second-round finish of Michael Chandler at UFC 262 in May 2021. Prior to this, the title had been vacated by a retiring Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Oliveira made a successful title defense against Dustin Poirier at UFC 269. Oliveira defeated Justin Gaethje at UFC 274 as well, but a weight missed caused Oliveira to be stripped of the title, becoming the first UFC champion to lose his title on the scales.
The No. 4 ranked UFC lightweight, Dariush has won eight straight, most recently defeating Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 280.
UFC 288 will be headlined by Aljamain Sterling defending the UFC bantamweight title against Henry Cejudo.
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