Former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight king
Charles
Oliveira is ready to get back in the game.
Four months after losing his 155-pound title to Islam
Makhachev, Oliveira is expecting to return to the Octagon
within a few months. Having trekked to Perth, Australia, to corner
teammate Elves
Brener Oliveira in his UFC debut opposite Zubaira
Tukhugov, the ex-champ spoke with Sherdog about his plans. A
recent interview with The Schmo brought to light a possible pairing
with Beneil
Dariush, and Oliveira confirmed that fight is in the works.
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“It’s true that we are negotiating to face Dariush, who is coming
from a gigantic sequence of wins,” Oliveira admitted. “My managers
Jorge Patino and Diego Lima are taking care of that. As I said in
other interviews, that’s a moment where we have to think with
reason not emotion. I must fight the one who will take me to the
title shot. My plan is [to] fight April or May, and fight again for
the belt by the end of the year [against] the winner of [Alexander]
Volkanovski and Makhachev.”
When asked about the rumor that he traveled to Perth to also serve
as the reserve fighter in case Volkanovski or Makhachev couldn’t
fight, Oliveira poured cold water on it.
“No way,” Oliveira exclaimed with a laugh. “I just weighed 187
pounds this Wednesday. I came here to help my teammate and do some
jobs for the UFC.”
The former champ hopes that within the end of the year, he will
take on one of the winners of the UFC 284 main event. Breaking down
that fight, however, was a tough ask for the Brazilian.
“It’s a style matchup,” Oliveira noted. “Volkanovski is better
standing up, and defends well [against] throws, if he mixes his
calf kicks with his speed and in-and-out game, he may knock out
Makhachev. But if Islam can grapple him and take him down, imposing
his ground-and-pound and submissions, he must win. It will be a
question of who will be able to impose his game.”
The fight against Dariush is not yet official, as the parties are
still negotiating, but it appears to be the one Oliveira likes
most. He believes that fighting Dariush would provide thrilling
action to the fans, and he can’t say no to that.
“Master Rafael
Cordeiro gave an interview to you where he said that if we
fight, it would be like a real Chute Boxe sparring [session] opened
to the public. I have to agree with him. We both don’t need to say
sh– about opponents, we both always fight to [the finish], walking
forward all the time and delivering great fights for the fans. If
this fight happens, we will show that the real Chute Boxe spirit is
alive,” Oliveira concluded.