Charles Oliveira makes history at UFC 289 with first-round TKO over Beneil Dariush

Charles Oliveira Octagon Interview | UFC 289

Former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira made history at UFC 289 at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on Saturday with a first-round TKO victory over Beneil Dariush.

The Brazilian fighter’s dominant performance secured him a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, along with Mike Malott, Steve Ercg, Marc-Andre Barriault and Eryk Anders. This marks his 19th post-fight bonus, a new record in UFC history.

To date, “Do Bronxs” has earned bonuses for his victories in three of his last five fights — against Beneil Dariush, Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler. He also received Performance of The Night incentives for his wins over Kevin Lee, Jim Miller, Jared Gordon, Clay Guida, Will Brooks and more.

The 33-year-old opened the fight with a head kick and landed over twice as many signature strikes (26) compared to Dariush (12) — all but three targeted his opponent’s head.

Last October, Oliveira suffered a loss to Islam Makhachev, causing fans to doubt his recovery. However, he shrugged off the doubts as he broke Dariush’s eight-fight win streak, which dated to 2018.

Dariush took to his Instagram account to share his reaction to the loss with an image reading, “God is good,” coupled with the caption, “I’m ok. I’ll heal up and be back. #allglorytoGod.”

Potential rematch against Makhachev

UFC President Dana White talked about a potential rematch between Oliveira and Makhachev during the post-fight press conference at UFC 289.

“Let’s not play games, that fight makes sense, that’s the fight that should happen, and I’m excited to see it again,” said White.

Although there is no confirmation yet, White’s comments indicate the possibility of a rematch at UFC 294 in October, when Makhachev will defend his title.

After Oliveira’s win, Makhachev took to his Twitter account to share his sentiment.

“Congrats Charles. But still there’s levels in this game,” read his tweet.

Makhachev previously talked about how he was rooting for Dariush to win. Since he had fought Oliveira before, he wanted “a fresh opponent.”