Charles Oliveira, former lightweight UFC champion, will fight again on May 6. Do Bronx took to Instagram to announce that he will be fighting Beneil Dariush at UFC 288, which will take place at a location that has not yet been announced?
While Aljamain Sterling will be defending his UFC bantamweight championship against former double champion Henry Cejudo, this bout is likely to serve as the card’s co-main event.
“Now it’s official,” wrote Oliveira online. “The lightweight lion is hungry and ready to hunt.”
The event UFC 280 in October was Oliveira’s last time competing inside the Octagon. In that fight for the unclaimed UFC lightweight championship, he was defeated by Islam Makhachev, who submitted him in the second round.
After Oliveira failed to make weight for his title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 274, the belt was open for contenders to claim. Before that, at UFC 269, he had successfully defended the title against Dustin Poirier. At UFC 262, he defeated Michael Chandler via knockout to claim the championship belt. He holds the number one spot in the lightweight division at the present time.
In relative obscurity, Dariush has amassed an undefeated run of eight fights that dates all the way back to 2018. In the course of that streak, he has been awarded the honour of Performance of the Night for his victories over Drew Dober, Frank Camacho, and Drakkar Klose.
His most recent victory came at UFC 280, where he took down Mateusz Gamrot and won by unanimous decision. At the heavyweight division, Dariush holds the fourth spot in the rankings, behind Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Oliveira.