Report: Injury to Oliveira forces postponement of UFC 288 bout vs. Dariush

A fight between top lightweight contenders Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush has been removed from the UFC 288 card, MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn reports.

Oliveira, the former lightweight champion, sustained an injury that has led to the bout being postponed. The promotion is opting to reschedule the fight for a later date instead of finding a new opponent for Dariush.

The extent of Oliveira’s injury is not known.

The pay-per-view event is set to take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on May 6.

Oliveira was set to step back into the Octagon after suffering a second-round submission to current champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 280 last October. The Brazilian fighter was stripped of the 155-pound title after missing weight for his second defense against Justin Gaethje. Oliveira submitted Gaethje in the first round, which led to the title remaining vacant prior to his bout with Makhachev.

Oliveira is the No. 1 contender, while Dariush is the No. 4-ranked fighter in the lightweight division and holds an eight-fight win streak.

This marks the second fight to be removed from the UFC 288 card in as many days. A featherweight bout between Jonathan Pearce and Bryce Mitchell was pulled on Thursday after Pearce suffered an injury. The promotion is still searching for a replacement to square off with Mitchell next month.

UFC 288 will feature Aljamain Sterling defending his bantamweight title against Henry Cejudo in the main event.

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