Beneil Dariush got removed from UFC 288 despite having accepted a new opponent

Beneil Dariush is seemingly willing to face anyone anywhere. The perennial UFC lightweight contender was originally scheduled to clash against former champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 288 on May 6th.

However, Dariush was left without an opponent after 'do Bronx' was forced to pull out due to an undisclosed injury. Surging prospect Arman Tsarukyan recently offered to step in as a short notice replacement against Dariush on May 6.

Currently ranked No.8 at lightweight, Tsarukyan has now revealed that No.4-ranked Dariush agreed to fight him on short notice. Regardless, the latter was removed from the UFC 288 card as the promotion is seemingly uninterested in the matchup.

Tsarukyan recently wrote on Twitter:

"Respect to @beneildariush for accepting the fight with me on May 6th. Sucks ufc didn’t want to do it. Hopefully we meet in the future ✊🏼"

After dropping a decision against Islam Makhachev on his UFC debut, Arman Tsarukyan mounted a five-fight win streak that was snapped by a FOTN decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot last June. The Armenian-Russian bounced back with an emphatic decision win over Damir Ismagulov in December.

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Charles Oliveira discusses pulling out of UFC 288 clash against Beneil Dariush

Charles Oliveira is coming off a title loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 280 in October 2022 that ended the Brazilian's glorious run atop the lightweight division. Reportedly turning down an immediate title rematch, 'do Bronx' accepted a pivotal title eliminator matchup against Beneil Dariush.

However, an injury during wrestling practice forced Oliveira to pull out of the fight. While the injury isn't severe, 'do Bronx' claims to have decided to pull out as he doesn't want to fight compromised.

The Brazilian expects to get back to training soon and still has his eyes set on the matchup against Beneil Dariush. The former champion recently said on his Instagram Stories:

"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." h/t MMA Fighting

The Oliveira-Dariush matchup now looks set to take place at UFC 289 in Vancouver, Canada, in June.