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Former light-weight champions Dustin Poirier and Charles Oliveira have been booked against rising contenders Benoit Saint-Denis and Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 299 and 300, respectively.
Poirier, a former interim champion within the division, will face Saint-Denis in a five-round co-main occasion at UFC 299 on 9 March. Then, at UFC 300 on 13 April, former undisputed champion Oliveira will battle Tsarukyan in a No 1 contender’s bout.
American Poirier, 34, final fought in July, struggling a head-kick knockout against Justin Gaethje – one other former interim champion at 155lbs – whereas Saint-Denis is on a five-fight win streak. The Frenchman, 28, received all of these fights with finishes inside two rounds.
Oliveira, 34, and Tsarukyan, 27, each stopped Beneil Dariush of their most up-to-date fights, with Oliveira beating Dariush in June and Tsarukyan doing so in December.
Oliveira’s win over Dariush noticed him bounce again from a loss to Islam Makhachev, who submitted him the Brazilian in 2022 to win the vacant light-weight title. Tsarukyan’s UFC debut got here against Makhachev in 2019, with the Armenian-Russian dropping a slender resolution.
The winner of Oliveira vs Tsarukyan will problem Makhachev for the light-weight title “this summer”, based on UFC president Dana White, as soon as the champion has recovered from harm.
Oliveira was due for a rematch with Makhachev in October however suffered a extreme lower over his eye, main Alexander Volkanovski to step in on quick discover. Makhachev knocked out Volkanovski in spherical one, sealing his second straight win over the featherweight champion, whom he outpointed in February.
Oliveira beforehand held the light-weight belt from 2021 till 2022, knocking out Michael Chandler to win the gold after Khabib Nurmagomedov relinquished it upon his retirement from MMA. Oliveira then submitted Poirier to retain the title, earlier than submitting Gaethje in the future after being stripped of the belt for lacking weight.
In his subsequent battle, the Brazilian was crushed by Makhachev – a protege and childhood good friend of Khabib.
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