Werdum backs Beneil Dariush to defeat Charles Oliveira at UFC 288

There are complicated cultural issues around loyalty in jiu-jitsu. Fabricio Werdum found himself in a particularly thankless situation. Recently he was forced to pick between fellow Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Charles ‘do Bronx’ Oliveira and Beneil Dariush.

According to betting odds, Beneil Dariush is the favorite to win his upcoming event against Charles Oliveira at UFC 288 on May 6.

Dariush is currently listed at -140, Oliveira, on the other hand, is the underdog with odds of +120.

In addition, Dariush enters the octagon with an impressive eight win streak, while Oliveira saw his own 11 win streak snapped in his last outing against Islam Makhachev. The winner of this will likely be the top contender for the UFC lightweight championship currently held by Makhachev.

However, UFC Heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum is familiar with both of them. Despite the fact Charles Oliveira is Brazilian, Werdum is backing Beneil Dariush to win.

He told Canal Encarnada:

“I like Charles Do Bronx, I will never stop liking him, but there’s no way. I can cheer for him, there’s no possibility, I’m going to cheer for my training partner who is part of my team.”

“(Beneil Dariush) has a very good jiu-jitsu, excellent jiu-jitsu. He moves very well on the ground and his striking is strong. He can take a lot too, to catch Dariush is difficult. To catch him in a submission… he can take it, it’s impressive, so I’m sure that’s the moment he’s waiting for the most.”

“Charles is Charles, he’s very good he showed that, he was the great champion of the people. First it was José Aldo, now it’s Charles do Bronx, you can see that people love him I had some support from him, he’s really cool,”

“Of course, Charles’ Jiu Jitsu is very good, he’s the biggest finisher in the history of UFC. But Darius, like Makashev, won’t be afraid to be hit by Charles and get on the ground”