An anticipated lightweight matchup between former 155-pound champion, Charles Oliveira, and streaking contender, Beneil Dariush, has been removed from the upcoming UFC 288 pay-per-view (PPV) card on May 6 from inside Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
This is according to a recent report by ESPN, which states Oliveira pulled out due to an undisclosed injury. As of now, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is not seeking a replacement for Oliveira to fight Dariush next month. Instead, the promotion is looking to reschedule the bout for a later date providing Oliveira makes a quick recovery. It’s unknown at this time what exactly went wrong with “Do Bronx.”
Needless to say, this is a massive blow for a UFC 288 card that is just a few weeks away. The headlining act will feature the return of Henry Cejudo as “Triple C” matches up against current UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, but Oliveira vs. Dariush was expected to be the people’s main event.
Oliveira, who coincidentally pulled out of a matchup with Dariush back in 2020 for undisclosed reasons as well, is coming off a title fight loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 280 back in Oct. 2022. This was supposed to be his chance to regain momentum at 155 pounds and push for another title shot. Dariush, on the other hand, was hoping to lock down his first crack at UFC lightweight gold with a win over “Do Bronx” to extend his current unbeaten streak to nine. The Iranian fighter will have to wait a little longer to get his chance.
With the removal of Oliveira vs. Dariush, UFC 288’s fight card is as follows:
UFC 288 PPV Main Event On ESPN+:
135 lbs.: UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling vs. Henry Cejudo
UFC 288 PPV Main Card On ESPN+ (10 p.m. ET):
115 lbs.: Jessica Andrade vs. Xiaonan Yan
145 lbs.: Bryce Mitchell vs. TBD
145 lbs.: Kron Gracie vs. Charles Jourdain
UFC 288 Prelims Card On ESPN/ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET):
135 lbs.: Johnny Munoz vs. Daniel Santos
115 lbs.: Virna Jandiroba vs. Marina Rodriguez
185 lbs.: Armen Petrosyan vs. TBA
205 lbs.: Devin Clark vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
UFC 288 Early Prelims Card On ESPN+ (6 p.m. ET):
125 lbs.: Rafael Estevam vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
170 lbs.: Rolando Bedoya vs. Khaos Williams
155 lbs.: Drew Dober vs. Matt Frevola
185 lbs.: Joseph Holmes vs. Claudio Ribeiro
185 lbs.: Ikram Aliskerov vs. Phil Hawes
For more UFC 288 fight card news and coverage click here.