A battle of lightweight contenders is in the works for early next
year, as Beneil
Dariush is slated to lock horns with Islam
Makhachev on Feb. 26.
ESPN was first to report the booking, which will serve as the
headliner for the UFC Fight Night card. In addition to agreeing to
the bout, both Dariush and Makhachev have reportedly signed conract
extensions with the Las Vegas-based promotion. A location for the
event has not been announced.
Dariush enters the matchup on a seven-bout winning streak. The
Kings MMA product went 2-0 in 2021, defeating Diego
Ferreira via split decision at UFC Fight Night 184 before
taking a unanimous verdict against Tony
Ferguson at UFC 262. Dariush is 15-4-1 in UFC competition
overall, with other notable wins against the likes of Drew Dober,
Thiago
Moises, Jim Miller
and Michael
Johnson.
Makhachev, meanwhile, has been victorious in his last nine Octagon
appearances. Most recently, the Khabib
Nurmagomedov training partner tapped Dan Hooker
with a first-round kimura at UFC 267 on Oct. 30. Makhachev has lost
just one of his 22 professional outings — a first-round TKO defeat
to Adriano
Martins in October 2015.