Former champion Charles Oliveira’s path back to the lightweight title will have to go through a rising Armenian standout.
Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) will return at UFC 300 in April to take on Arman Tsarukyan (21-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) in a No. 1 contenders bout. UFC CEO Dana White made the announcement late Sunday on Instagram.
UFC 300 takes place April 13 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims expected for ESPN and ESPN+.
Oliveira got back in the win colulmn in a big way this past June when he took out Beneil Dariush with a first-round knockout at UFC 289. Oliveira won the vacant lightweight title against Michael Chandler in 2021, then defended it against Dustin Poirier later that year. But he missed weight for a title defense against Justin Gaethje and was stripped of the belt.
Against Islam Makhachev in October 2022, he tapped to an arm-triangle choke in the second round trying to recapture the title. It was his first loss in nearly five years.
The 27-year-old Tsarukyan has won three straight fights. In December, he took out Dariush in 64 seconds for a vicious TKO Performance of the Night bonus to build on a stoppage of Joaquim Silva and a decision over Damir Ismagulov.
With the addition, the UFC 300 card now includes:
- Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic
- Calvin Kattar vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Cody Brundage vs. Bo Nickal
- Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.
