Charles Oliveira was stripped of his lightweight title leading up to UFC 274 when he missed weight by half a pound, but that somehow hasn’t affected his swagger one bit.
“Do Bronx” showed up on fight night decked out in a baller red suit, without an apparent care in the world. Then he went into the cage and took the fight to Justin Gaethje, going punch for punch with the legendary power striker and coming out on top. He ended up choking Gaethje out just 3:22 into the first round (watch the highlights here).
Now Oliveira has taken to Twitter where he’s making it clear he’s still the champ, even without the belt. It’s a new level of boasting for a man who hasn’t engaged in a ton of smack talk up to this point, but I guess that’s the era we exist in these days. In a new tweet he declared he’d fight Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz in one night, asking UFC president Dana White what he thought of the idea.
Unfortunately, that’s an idea for a multiverse dimension where PRIDE bought the UFC and still holds Grand Prix events with the semi-finals and finals in the same night. That kind of fun stuff doesn’t really fly any more … but it did attract the attention of Conor McGregor, who responded with the same level of venom he brought into the third Dustin Poirier fight.
“Shut up you bum and get back to that favela and pay your piece,” McGregor wrote.
A McGregor vs. Oliveira fight would be pretty awesome, but it’s looking increasingly unlikely as Conor continues to pack on pounds of muscle in preparation for a welterweight title run. Immediately after Oliveira beat Gaethje and called out McGregor, “The Notorious” did sound like he might reconsider leaving the lightweight division.
”I’m not sure I wish to cut the weight,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “I am really enjoying being built like a refrigerator. I feel I want to fight at this size just to watch it back lol. But I’d love to fight the Brazilian, 100%! I love Brazil and I’m unbeaten against Brazil. All KO’s. I’ve some thinking to do.”
This guy just wants to fight bums instead of the guy in his division that’s favoured to beat him.
Embarrassing.
I Got Charles
As for the opponent, Oliveira shut down Khabib Nurmagomedov’s request to move on from making Islam Makhachev vs. Beneil Dariush to pair his protege against Oliveira for the vacant championship at UFC 281, which goes down Oct. 22 in Abu Dhabi.
“I think the reality is, Makhachev has to fight Dariush first,” Oliveira said. “They both have to fight and then we’ll see who we’re fighting or not. Makhachev is super tough and deserves all the respect in the world. Dariush is also super tough and has a great team. It will be a great fight, so let them fight first and see what will happen down the line. Like I said, my focus now is going home and getting some rest, and my team will see who we’re fighting. I’ve never ran from a fight and never will. I’ll be there and I’ll be ready [to fight] whoever they put in there with me.”
“Everyone I beat, I’ve made it pretty clear. I never let it go the distance, I always finish them. Makhachev and Dariush are the two guys I haven’t fought yet and they both have to make this fight happen. Maybe [the next contender] comes from this fight. The thing is, it makes no difference to me. I’ll be ready. The champion’s name is Charles Oliveira.”
Oliveira believes shooting for a late-2022 return will give the UFC enough time to prepare for a show in his native Brazil. The lightweight star headlined the last UFC card in the country back in February 2020, the first event with no fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ve asked to fight in December [in Brazil]. I deserve this,” Oliveira said. “The Brazilian people deserve this. We deserve this, for this fight to be in Brazil. If it’s Sao Paulo, that’s 100 percent. But I would really like this fight to be in Brazil.”
Charles Oliveira is no longer the UFC lightweight champion following his submission win over Justin Gaethje, but he is the No. 1 contender for the title he lost at the beginning of Saturday’s main event. When he gets his chance to reclaim the championship, who should get the shot?
On this episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck gives his thoughts on UFC 274, along with Oliveira’s historic weight miss. In addition, questions come in regarding whether or not Islam Makhachev is the automatic choice to face Oliveira next for the vacant title, how Conor McGregor could factor into the discussion, where Gaethje goes from the submission loss, Rose Namajunas’ corner during her strawweight title loss to Carla Esparza, Brandon Moreno vs. Kai Kara-France at UFC 277 for the interim flyweight title, recent fight announcements, and more
On the newest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer, Matt Brown joins the show to react to the biggest storylines coming out of UFC 274, including Charles Oliveira being stripped of his title but then submitting Justin Gaethje in the main event.
Brown reveals his own story about the one time he missed weight in his career and how Oliveira deserved better than what happened when he lost his title before ultimately beating Gaethje just 24 hours later.
Brown also discusses Michael Chandler’s jaw-dropping Knockout of the Year candidate finish over Tony Ferguson and defends both Carla Esparza and Rose Namajunas for what is widely being called one of the worst title fights in UFC history.
Makhachev Calls Oliveira A Hypocrite After Calling Out The ‘Undeserving’
Following Oliveira’s victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 274 this past weekend, Makhachev is the only top-five lightweight yet to earn a title fight.
However, reigning lightweight champ Oliveira believes that even if Makhachev defeats Dariush, he still must prove himself against another top contender. The Brazilian contends that Makhachev’s current win streak was forged against opponents outside of the top five, and therefore he must have “one or two more fights” before he gets a shot at the champ.
While Oliveira believes Makhachev must tread a longer road to the title, he thinks Conor McGregor should be given a shortcut to it. The Brazilian has in the past stated his desire to fight McGregor despite the Irishman having lost his last three fights at lightweight—a losing streak that extends back to 2016.
Earlier today, he even threw Nate Diaz into the mix, implying that he’d be interested in fighting the Stockton legend as well.
If Islam got his freebie gimme fight vs Bobby green, then I say it’s only fair to give Charles a freebie gimme fight.
Diaz might actually be a bad matchup for him.