UFC President Dana White has recently announced that Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan will face off in an important lightweight bout at UFC 300. The event is scheduled to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. He also revealed that the winner of the match will be named the No. 1 contender for the Lightweight Championship that is currently held by Islam Makhachev. The Lightweight champion is expected to return in the summer after recovering from injury.
Oliviera was originally going to fight Makhachev in October
“Do Bronxs” was initially scheduled to fight Makhachev at UFC 294 last October. Unfortunately, he had to withdraw from the main event due to a last-minute injury during training. The Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski stepped in as Oliveira’s replacement on short notice but lost the fight via knockout in the first round.
UFC 300 has not confirmed an official headliner yet. However, the current lineup includes notable matchups, including Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksander Rakic, Calvin Kattar vs. Aljamain Sterling, and Bo Nickal vs. Cody Brundage.
“Do Bronxs” faced defeat at UFC 280
Charles Oliveira and Makhachev initially faced off at UFC 280 on October 22, 2022, for the lightweight title, with the Russian fighter winning by knockout. Following this loss, Oliveira bounced back with a first-round TKO win over Beneil Dariush, giving him another opportunity to challenge Makhachev for the title.
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Arman Tsarukyan is also seeking a rematch with Makhachev, who lost to him via unanimous decision in 2019. The Armenian-Russian is entering the upcoming bout after a recent knockout win against Beneil Dariush.
Makhachev expressed disinterest in rematches
Before this title eliminator between Oliveira and Tsarukyan was announced, Islam Makhachev expressed his reluctance to be involved in another rematch as a title defense. In an interview in Russia over the weekend, Makhachev expressed his disinterest in rematches.
“To be honest, I’ve already told the UFC that I’m not interested in rematches, because if you want to be a champion in a good way, you have to add new names. There’s Gaethje, who I would say deserves the fight. I think it would be more interesting to fight him. I think probably in March,” said Makhachev.
