Charles
Oliveira’s coach is confident that his fighter will be able to
finish Michael
Chandler inside the distance at
UFC 262.
Diego Lima, the leader of Chute Boxe Sao Paulo, spoke to
Sherdog.com shortly after arriving in Houston for fight week along
with Oliveira and Jorge Macaco. He said that preparations for the
lightweight title bout have gone much smoother than they did for
“Do Bronx’s” last Octagon appearance.
“Our last fight against [Tony] Ferguson was such a stressful
atmosphere due to the short notice of one week,” Lima said.
“Besides not having a normal camp, we had a pretty tough weight
cut, plus [dealing with] all the visa and COVID-19 processes.
“This time, everything went perfectly. We tested negative in Sao
Paulo and here in Houston. And, besides being very well trained,
Charles just needs to cut 11 pounds by Friday.”
Lima revealed that the whole Chute Boxe team collaborated in
helping Oliveira prepare for his title fight with Chandler.
“We always dreamed of a UFC belt, so the whole team worked together
like they were going to fight,” he said. “Charles worked with 40
guys with totally different skills, and all of them studied a lot
of Chandler´s fights in order to help him during sparring.”
Lima isn’t putting much stock into what Chandler has said during
pre-fight interviews, especially when it comes to the topic of
strategy.
“We know that Chandler loves to talk, but we also know he is a very
intelligent guy who wouldn’t tell his real game plan to the media,”
Lima said. “The fact is that we have a couple of strategies.
[Chandler] will face the best Charles
Oliveira.”
Lima did agree with Chandler’s assessment that the fight will not
go the full five rounds, though he sees a different outcome than
the former Bellator champion.
“I can’t predict if it will be via knockout or submission, but I
truly believe this fight will end between first and second round,
with Charles being declared the new UFC lightweight champion,” he
said.