Beneil Dariush forced out of UFC Vegas 49 main event against Islam Makhachev
Islam Makhachev and Beneil Dariush will not be fighting next Saturday night after all.
According to MMA reporter, Ariel Helwani and later confirmed by sources to BJPENN, Dariush suffered an injury and has been forced out of the fight. It’s uncertain if Makhachev will remain on the card or if another fight will headline next Saturday’s event.
Beneil Dariush (21-4-1) is riding a seven-fight winning streak and coming off a dominant decision win over Tony Ferguson last May. Prior to that, he beat Diego Ferreira by decision and scored back-to-back KO wins over Scott Holtzman and Drakkar Klose. He also beat Frank Camacho, Drew Dober, and Thiago Moises on the win streak.
Dariush is currently ranked third at lightweight and holds notable wins over Jim Miller, James Vick, and Michael Johnson among others.
Image Credit: UFC
Islam Makhachev (21-1), meanwhile, is coming off a first-round submission victory over Dan Hooker and prior to that, submitted Moises in his first UFC main event. The Dagestani fighter is on a nine-fight winning streak and ranked fourth at lightweight.
Makhachev has been hyped up for years due to his affiliation with Khabib Nurmagomedov and has lived up to that so far. During this win streak, he beat Dober, Davi Ramos, Arman Tsarukyan, and Gleison Tibau among others.
As mentioned, it’s uncertain if Makhachev will remain on the card or what the main event will be. This was a presumed number one contender bout so perhaps the UFC decides to rebook this for a later date.
With Beneil Dariush vs. Islam Makhachev off, UFC Vegas 49 is as follows:
- Misha Cirkunov vs. Wellington Turman
- Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Zhu Rong
- Arman Tsarukyan vs. Joel Alvarez
- Gregory Rodrigues vs. Armen Petrosyan
- Priscila Cachoeira vs. Ji Yeon Kim
- Jinh Yu Frey vs. Hannah Goldy
- Victor Altamirano vs. Carlos Hernandez
- Terrance McKinney vs. Fares Ziam
- Alejandro Perez vs. Jonathan Martinez
- Johny Parsons vs. Micheal Gillmore
- Josiane Nunes vs. Jennifer Gonzalez Araneda
Who would you like to see Islam Makhachev fight with Beneil Dariush now out of the picture?
