A major lightweight fight between former champion Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush has been pulled from the UFC 288 card in New Jersey on May 6th.
ESPN Deportes has reported that Oliveira suffered a minor injury in training that’s left him unable to compete in the event, which takes place in under a months time.
However, as things stand the UFC’s plan is to just push the fight back until a later date rather than look for an alternative match-up for Dariush.
That makes sense as a win for either man in a fight of this magnitude could be enough to earn a title shot, with Oliveira currently the No.1 contender at 155lbs after losing the belt to Islam Makhachev in October of last year, while Dariush is ranked No.4 after amassing an 8-fight winning streak.
Still, it is a blow for the UFC 288 card to lose such a big fight, and it comes hot on the heels of the news that another fight between Bryce Mitchell and Jonathan Pearce has also been nixed after Pearce suffered an injury, though Mitchell may yet still feature against another opponent.
So, that leaves UFC 288 with it’s main event between bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and returning former double-champ Henry Cejudo still intact, with Jessica Andrade vs. Yan Xiaonan and Kron Gracie vs. Charles Jourdain also confirmed for the main PPV portion of the show.
