A major lightweight fight between Islam Makhachev and Beneil Dariush has been unveiled as the headliner for the UFC Fight Night 203 event on February 26th of next year.
Makhachev has been building up a head of steam in the division for quite some time now, having amassed nine victories in a row over a five year period.
That includes having won three fights in a row by submission in 2021, starting with an arm-triangle finish of Drew Dober, followed by a rear-naked choke stoppage of Thiago Moises and then most recently tapping out Dan Hooker via a first round kimura last month.
That’s left Makhachev in the No.4 spot on the lightweight rankings, which is actually still one place behind his next opponent, Dariush, who has also been in excellent form in the division.
Dariush isn’t too far behind Makhachev’s winning record, having gone unbeaten in his last seven Octagon outings. Early in that run he also defeated the aforementioned Dober and Moises too, but in most recent times he’s also got the better of the likes of Tony Ferguson and Carlos Diego Ferreira on the scorecards.
Makhachev vs. Dariush will front a UFC Fight Night 203 card that so far has little else scheduled on it so far and does not yet have a confirmed location either.
