The co-main event of UFC 288 will not go ahead at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on May 6 as the Brazilian Charles Oliveira had to pull out of the Beneil Dariush fight due to an undisclosed injury. According to reports, Oliveira sustained a minor injury during his prep for the upcoming match and has been forced to limit his training afterwards.
This is not the first time when Charles Oliveira had to pull out of a UFC fight against Beneil Dariush. It had happened earlier in October 2020 due to undisclosed reasons as well. Also, it is not clear whether Charles Oliveira will be ready to face the Iranian-born American Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 on June 10 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada, as per ESPN.
In his last fight at UFC 280, Oliveira lost to Islam Makhachev of Russia via an arm-triangle choke submission for the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship. The upcoming fight in the lightweight division was Oliveira’s chance to regain some winning momentum and get another chance at the championship down the road.
Meanwhile, Beneil Dariush was coming into his UFC 288 fight on the back of an 8-match winning streak stretching back to November 2018. In his last bout at UFC 280, Dariush was able to defeat Mateusz Gamrot from Poland with a unanimous decision. A victory against Charles Oliveira would have put Beneil Dariush a step closer to eventually challenging for the UFC Lightweight Championship.
UFC 288 will go ahead in New Jersey with the much-anticipated return of the American Henry Cejudo as he challenges his fellow countryman Alijamain Sterling in the main event for the UFC Bantamweight Championship on May 6.