Charles Oliveira revealed his reasoning for pulling out of UFC 288.
Oliveira was scheduled to fight Beneil Dariush on May 6 to determine the number one contender in the UFC lightweight division. Unfortunately, ‘Do Bronx’ had to postpone the bout due to an undisclosed injury, leaving fans disappointed. The former UFC lightweight champion broke down his decision on Instagram by saying this in Portuguese:
“I wasn’t able to train, I got injured during wrestling practice. I tried to train, I tried to do everything I could but we couldn’t, so we pulled out of the fight… I have to stay [away from training] for a few days so I can go back to training soon, and then we’ll reschedule the fight. I’ll be back to training pretty soon. That’s it, I had a small injury and decided to pull out so I wouldn’t fight injured. We’ve made that mistake once and I didn’t want to do it again. … We’re taking one step back so we can take one, two, three steps forward soon.”
Oliveira last fought in October 2022, losing against Islam Makhachev for the vacant 155-pound title. ‘Do Bronx’ had one of the most exciting title runs in UFC history, allowing him to fight for gold again with a win against Dariush. Luckily, the number one contender matchup is rumored to be pushed back only a month.
May 6! Co main #ufc288 ☎️ pic.twitter.com/pa4OPiJVRJ
— GILBERT BURNS DURINHO (@GilbertDurinho) April 17, 2023
Beneil Dariush says the UFC wants to rebook his matchup against Charles Oliveira for June 10
Beneil Dariush has been craving an opportunity to earn a lightweight title shot. Now that Charles Oliveira has postponed their matchup, Dariush is willing to wait another month under two circumstances. During an interview with The Schmo, the 33-year-old had this to say about re-scheduling his fight with ‘Do Bronx’:
“They said they want to push the fight to June 10th. By the way, I still don’t have a contract, so I’m not sure if it’s for sure, but that’s what they told me they want to do, June 10th. At first I wasn’t about it because what if this guy pulls out? But then I said a couple of things: if this guy pulls out again, I want the title shot. And basically [I asked for] a pay bump, too. And they agreed to both things, and that was pretty much it.”
Dariush last fought in October 2022, defeating Mateusz Gamrot to extend his win streak to nine. The Kings MMA fighter has been patient with a longer path to a title shot, but most fans believe he should be fighting Islam Makhachev without another win. Only time will tell if he can emerge victorious against Oliveira and earn the world championship opportunity later this year.
Since we got a Beneil Dariush fight announcement here’s him cracking Gamrot 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/Yf1G2ACbJ9
— 𝕄̼𝕄̼𝔸̼ 𝕄̼𝕒̼𝕣̼𝕔̼𝕦̼𝕤̼ 🏝️ (@mmamarcuss) January 26, 2023
Quotes provided by MMAFighting and MMA Mania.
