April’s bumper UFC 300 card is starting to take shape.
On Sunday night, UFC CEO Dana White revealed that top-ranked lightweights Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan will clash on the April 13 card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with the winner of the bout designated as the number one contender to fight reigning 155-pound champion Islam Makhachev. White also stated that the Russian fighter is expected to return to action in the summer after he recovers from injury. Makhachev is also unable to compete during Ramadan, which runs this year between March 10 and April 8.
Oliveira, a former lightweight champion in his own right, was scheduled to fight Makhachev in October but was forced to withdraw from the bout after receiving a significant cut in training. His place was taken at UFC 294 by featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who was defeated by first-round TKO.
Like Oliveira, Tsarukyan is a former opponent of Makhchev’s having competed against him in a short-notice contest in his UFC debut in Russian in April 2019. The 27-year-old lost a competitive bout by unanimous decision. Since then, he has gone 8-1 in the UFC’s lightweight fold and was most recently seen last month scoring a first-round knockout of veteran fighter Beneil Dariush.
UFC 300 has yet to receive a formal main event booking but is already confirmed to feature a light heavyweight contest between Jiri Prochazka and Aleksandar Rakic, a featherweight bout between Aljamain Sterling and Calvin Kattar, while former Penn State wrestling standout Bo Nickal continues his MMA apprenticeship against Cody Brundage.