Reports are circulating that the lightweight bout has been called off due to an injury suffered by Oliveira
UFC 288 is scheduled to take place at the Prudential Center on Saturday, May 6 in Newark, New Jersey. It looks as though the card now requires a new co-main event as per the ESPN report that Charles Oliveira has suffered an injury that is affecting his ability to train for the bout.
There are no reports of the diagnosis of Oliveira’s injury at present and at this stage, it doesn’t look as though the UFC is seeking a replacement fighter to square off against Beneil Dariush. A more likely option, providing Oliveira isn’t out of action for very long, is for the bout to be rescheduled for sometime in the near future with UFC 289 being the next pay-per-view event on June 10.
The report by ESPN is a blow to both athletes and the UFC and Oliveira recently tweeted a ‘sad face emoji’ which would indicate the rumors have some weight:
Rescheduling the bout would make sense for both fighters as ‘Do Bronxs’ looks to get back on track following losing the lightweight strap to Islam Makhachev at UFC 280 which took place in Abu Dhabi last October. Before the defeat, he was on one of the most remarkable runs in lightweight history, winning eleven straight fights which included victories over top-ranked opponents including Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Michael Chandler.
Beneil Dariush is on quite the run himself, notching up eight straight victories and being unbeaten since March 2018. A win over Charles Oliveira would almost certainly make him the number one contender, so he will be keen for the rearranged bout to take place as soon as possible in order to secure a title shot by the end of the year.
Although this is disappointing news for both fighters, it doesn’t change too much in relation to their quest for lightweight gold. The winner of this fight will be eyeing up that title shot which we suspect would come at UFC 294 on Saturday, October 24th in Abu Dhabi. Current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has a big following in that region, making it likely the UFC will be looking to book a title bout at the event.
There is no word yet whether a replacement bout will be added to the card in place of Oliveira vs Dariush, but with the event just three weeks away it’s looking unlikely.
The co-main event isn’t the only bout affected on the main card. Fight Analyst broke the news earlier this week that Jonathan Pearce had to withdraw from his fight against Bryce Mitchell. A potential replacement may be announced for Mitchell shortly but as of now, nothing has been confirmed (at least publicly).
Despite the UFC 288 card looking quite shallow following two main card bouts being called off through injury, this kind of news is to be expected in the sport of MMA. The UFC brass is no strangers to having to make last-minute changes to pay-per-view cards. As recently as UFC 279 in September of last year, Khamzat Chimaev missed weight spectacularly after being advised by a doctor to stop cutting weight as a result, the majority of the main card was changed at the eleventh hour and the outcome ended up being successful
UFC 288 will take place on Saturday, May 6, and will be headlined by Aljamain Sterling Vs Henry Cejudo for the UFC Bantamweight Championship. Sterling will be looking to defend his title against the former champ ‘Triple C‘ who comes out of retirement following this three-year lay-off.
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