The UFC president Dana White and the associate matchmakers didn’t take too long to get the much-anticipated lightweight showdown rescheduled. Top 155lbs contender Beneil Dariush will square off against former champion Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira as the co-main event of UFC 289 that will take place in Vancouver, Canada.
HUGE ANNOUNCEMENTS JUST DROPPED! đš@DanaWhite just confirmed SIX big fights going down this summer and more đ pic.twitter.com/2trJujb3kB
— UFC (@ufc) April 21, 2023
The fight was previously scheduled for UFC 288 which is being headlined by bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo. Worth mentioning that Cejudo, the former two-division champion will be returning inside the octagon after almost three years.
Oliveira and Dariush were all set to be the co-main event of that card before ‘Do Bronx’ was forced to pull out of the bout due to an undisclosed injury. According to various sources, Oliveira was advised to slow down his training in the last few weeks due to a niggle and hence wasn’t fully prepared for the fight.
Luckily the injury doesn’t seem to be a big one as the former undisputed lightweight king will be back in action in little over a month at UFC 289.
The fight also adds many eyeballs to the Vancouver card as many fans criticized the event for its not so interesting main-event which consisted the trilogy between current women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and former champ Juliana Pena.
Charles Oliveira vs Beneil Dariush match-up
There is a reason why the whole MMA community and UFC head honcho Dana White is so big in this lightweight match-up. Oliveira who won the vacant lightweight belt from Michael Chandler after Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement was widely considered as the best grappler in the division.
Until Khabib’s successor Islam Makhachev defeated him at his own game as the Brazilian got submitted by Makhachev in the second round and lost his belt after successfully defending it twice.
When asked about his intent for this fight, Oliviera said “Charles walks forward. He hunts the entire time. So if you want to watch a boring fight, don’t come watch my fight…I want it so bad. I want to become champion again, I want to win. I want to make history. I’m hungry to win. I’m like a lion hunting.”
Beneil who is currently ranked fourth in the lightweight division, is currently riding high on a eight-fight win streak has been calling for a title shot for a long time now and this seems to be the final hurdle for him. A win against number one ranked Charles Oliveira will most likely guarantee a shot at the title for Dariush.
