Ex-Champ Charles Oliveira Breaks Silence on UFC 288 Fight Postponement

Charles Oliveira

Getty Charles Oliveira

Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira was injured ahead of his UFC 288 fight with Beneil Dariush. And once he can train again, he’ll look to rebook the title eliminator bout.

The top-ranked 155-pound combatants were scheduled as the co-main event for the May 6 event, which takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. However, news broke a few days back that the fight had been canceled — and it had to do with “Do Bronx.”

Well, Oliveira took to Instagram Stories this week to reveal that an injury had derailed his training. And instead of continuing and fighting impaired, he elected to drop out of the contest and recover. He didn’t reveal what the injury was, but it appears that he won’t be on the shelf for long.

“I wasn’t able to train, I got injured during wrestling practice,” Oliveira said in Portuguese (translated by MMA Fighting). “I tried to train, I tried to do everything I could but we couldn’t, so we pulled out of the fight. [Fighting at UFC 288] would be great because I would be fighting on the same night of two teammates, ‘Willycat’ [Daniel Santos] and Rolando [Bedoya], but God knows all things. We’ll continue working and stay focused.”


Oliveira Will Be Back to Training ‘Pretty Soon,’ Dariush Said UFC Wants to Rebook Fight for June

Dariush spoke with The Schmo after next month’s match fell through, and he said the promotion was hoping to rebook them for the Octagon’s return to Vancouver, Canada, on June 10. But, nothing has been officially offered for UFC 289, according to Dariush, and Oliveira said he hasn’t resumed training yet.

“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,” Oliveira said. “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.”


Dariush Said He’ll Receive Next Title Fight if Oliveira Pulls Out of Rebooking

According to Dariush, he’ll receive the next crack at current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev if Oliveira pulls out of their fight again. Because of that, he’s willing to meet Do Bronx inside the cage next month.

“They said they want to push the fight to June 10,” Dariush said to The Schmo. “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 that they want to do — June 10.

“At first I wasn’t about it because, you know, what if this guy pulls out? But then, I said a couple of things: ‘Listen, if this guy pulls out again, I want the title shot’ … basically, a pay bump, too. And they agreed to both things and that was pretty much it.

“So, they agreed to those two things and if he pulls out, I get the title shot. That’s what I was told. It’s hard to say no to that, right? Because it seems to me the UFC on their part is doing everything to make this fight happen. So, I said ‘Yeah. Let’s do it.’

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