Report: Charles Oliveira To Face Beniel Darius at UFC 288 PPV

Charles Oliveira vs Beneil Dariush UFC 288

Charles “DoBronx” Oliveira and Beniel Darius are likely to clash at UFC 288 PPV event in May 2023.

Oliveira’s manager and coach Diego Lima confirmed this news to KO Imenero’s Alvaro Colmenero in an interview. Colmenero tweeted, “Diego Lima confirmed to me that Oliveira will fight Beneil Dariush on May 6 at UFC 288.”

Charles Oliveira holds the #1 contender status in UFC lightweight rankings, while Darius is at #4, with Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje in between them. Oliveira has wins over both these men during his UFC lightweight Championship run, which ended with a loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 280.

Oliveira won the lightweight title at UFC 262 by beating Michael Chandler. He went on to defend the title successfully against Poirier at UFC 269. Later, he was stripped off the title when he missed weight before his title defense against Gaethje at UFC 274. However, he failed to win the title and keep his 11 fights winning streak going with the loss to Makhachev.

Beneil Darius is on a sweet 8-fights winning streak himself. The streak started in 2018 with a win over Thiago Moisés and Drew Dober. In his last two fights, Darius had defeated Tony Ferguson at UFC 262 and Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 280.

Darius previously confirmed that UFC offered him to fight Oliveira at UFC 283, but he needed time due to an MCL injury. He added that UFC tried to book it in between months but was finally looking for a May PPV event slot.

Both men believe a win here would earn them a showdown for the lightweight title with Makhachev. Will it be the case?

UFC 288 is currently not officially announced by UFC and has no reported location. Johnny Munoz Jr. vs. Daniel Santos and Khaos Williams vs. Ronaldo Bedoya are the other two bouts currently reported for this event.

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