Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champion
Charles
Oliveira is taking a little time off, but will be ready to come
back soon with a vengeance.
At
UFC 280 in October, Oliveira lost his chance to reclaim his
lightweight throne when Islam
Makhachev submitted him in the main event. According to coach
Diego Lima, Oliveira is recovering and getting his mind right
instead of diving straight back into action. Although he was
offered a spot on UFC 283 in January in his home country of Brazil,
he and his team declined the offer as it was too short of a
turnaround for “Do Bronx.”
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“[The] UFC knew how much Charles wanted to fight in Brazil and kept
their offer, but the time to recover was really short. We had a
meeting with the whole team and decided it was too short a time. He
came from four wars in 17 months [against Michael
Chandler, Dustin
Poirier, Justin
Gaethje and Makhachev] against all top five, [one] war after
another, so we decided that it was time for Charles to rest and
recover his body and mind to return 100%.”
According to Lima, the plan is return on March, but there is
nothing on the books yet. Oliveira will not be able to seek an
immediate rematch against Makhachev – the man that dramatically
ended his 11-fight win streak – because the Russian champ will be
facing off against featherweight king Alexander
Volkanovski in February. When asked to comment on the rumors
that Charles could fight surging contenders Beneil
Dariush or Rafael
Fiziev, Lima suggested that “Do Bronx” should fight for the
title next.
“For everything Charles did in the last two years, he deserves to
fight for the belt next [against] the winner of Volkanovski and
Islam,” Lima believed. “Our priority is not revenge, but to get the
belt back. Charles is still the number one in the ranking, if the
UFC wants him to make another fight before the title dispute,
Dariush or a rematch with Poirier would be more fair. Fiziev is
very tough but he is the 6th in the ranking, wouldn’t make sense
now.”
The head coach of Chute Boxe did guarantee that if – or when, if it
were up to him – Oliveira faces Makhachev again, it will be a
completely different outcome.
“I don’t want to take any merit from Makhachev, but Charles was not
on his best day,” the coach admitted. “I have no doubt when they
face each other again, the result will be different. The only
certainty I have is that they will fight again, something pretty
common in the top of lightweight division.”
The vaunted coach was coy on addressing that upcoming battle
between Makhachev and Volkanovski, touching on it without giving up
which way he leans.
“It will be a very tough one, decided in details,” Lima concluded.
“Some people say Volkanovski is shorter, but they forget he already
fought in [the] welterweight division already.”