Former lightweight Charles Oliveira put himself in a strong position to get back to title contention tonight at UFC 289 by TKO’ing Beneil Dariush in under a round.
Round One:
Oliveira misses a kick and then Dariush lands a solid body kick. Head kick for Oliveira works this time, but Dariush is ok and fights back.
Dariush into the clinch and presses Oliveira into the cage. Oliveira tries to turn into him and work a throw, but ends up pulling Dariush on top of him.
Dariush starts landing solid ground-and-pound from in Oliveira’s guard. Oliveira looking for hammer-fists from his back.
Dariush passes to half-guard, but Oliveira is working for a leg lock. Dariush stays calm and is able to extract his leg and get back into his opponent’s guard. He’s back landing solid ground-and-pound. Dariush stands and Oliveira threatens with upkicks. Dariush back down into his guard.
Dariush lands a right hand, but then as he postures Oliveira gets back to his feet, lands a knee to the body and clinches Dariush up against the cage.
Oliveira backs up to striking range. He lands a head kick, a left hook and then a couple of right hooks that put Dariush down. Dariush is hurt and in desperation reaches for the legs of Oliveira, but it’s Oliveira who gets on top
and starts blasting him with heavy ground-and-pound.
Dariush is on the verge of being rendered unconscious here yet the ref hesitates for a moment before finally stepping in to wave the fight off. Oliveira wins by TKO in style at 4.10mins of the first round.
