Charles Oliveira will no longer fight Beneil Dariush at UFC Fight Night on October 3.
The surging contender, Oliveira, has amassed a seven-fight win streak with notable wins over Jim Miller, Clay Guida and Kevin Lee. He was expected to fight Dariush on Yas Island next month, but his opponent confirmed that the grappling ace is now out of the race.
“After my fight with Scott Holtzman, the UFC offered me a fight with Charles Oliveira on Oct 3rd,” Dariush posted on social media.
“I accepted and so did Charles,” Dariush continued. “I did not announce it because I was waiting on the UFC to announce it and I would follow. I been informed Charles is out of the fight. I am not sure on the details but I hope all is well with Charles. I am currently working with the UFC to figure out our next step. I will keep you all posted on the details. Finally, even though the fight did not come to fruition I want to thank the UFC, Sean Shelby, and my brother Ali Abdelaziz for setting this up.”
Dariush, a Kings MMA talent, is riding high on five consecutive victories. In his last fight, he defeated Scott Holtzman at UFC on ESPN +32 with a show-stopping spinning back fist. Usually, he would’ve been the frontrunner for a post-fight bonus, after receiving three straight Performance of the Night bonuses in his last few fights. However, after coming in two pounds overweight, he was not able to qualify for that reward this time around.
Dariush revealed he wasn’t bothered, and he declared Scott as the deserving bonus winner.
“I missed weight, so I don’t deserve it,” Dariush told reporters post-fight (via MMA Junkie). “That’s perfectly fine. If anyone deserves it, it’s Scott. He came in for the kill and he took the fight. I missed weight, man. He didn’t have to take the fight. I’m not a walk in the park. I’m not trying to sound cocky, but it’s not like he’s taking an easy fight, you know?
“It was poor planning on my part,” Dariush said. “Typically, I have a little bit more freedom, because typically we don’t have the COVID protocols. So I didn’t take those protocols into consideration and I just didn’t do things the way I should have.”
It is unclear what the official reason for Charles Oliveira’s withdrawal is, or who Beneil Dariush will be matched up with next, but stay tuned on BJPenn.com for updates.