One of the biggest stars in Chute Boxe history relished Charles
Oliveira’s victory in the UFC
2699 headliner.
A betting underdog heading into the main event, Oliveira submitted
Dustin
Poirier in the third round of their lightweight championship
bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Mauricio Rua
reflected on the triumph of the Chute Boxe Diego Lima
product in a recent interview with Sherdog.com.
“What a fight! To tell you the truth, I couldn’t understand the
odds having Dustin as favorite after Charles beat all the
submission records and has the most finishes in promotion history,”
Rua said. “Once again, he had an amazing performance based on his
versatility. I hope the critics finally understand why he is
wearing the lightweight belt.”
After the bout, Conor
McGregor called for a clash with Oliveira in a post on social
media. “What date am I fighting Oliveira,” wrote McGregor, who is
still recovering from a broken leg suffered in a loss to Poirier in
July.
Rua, for one, is in favor of Oliveira facing McGregor – but up a
weight class at 170 pounds.
“If I were his manager of course I would rather face McGregor [at
welterweight] for two reasons,” Rua said. “Besides the bigger money
a fight with Conor could provide, he wouldn’t need to put his belt
on the line.”
So what date am I fighting Oliveira?
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA)
December 13, 2021
“Shogun” also discussed the strategy he would use against Justin
Gaethje or McGregor if he were Oliveira´s head coach. UFC
president Dana White has said on more than one occasion that
Gaethje is the likely No. 1 contender at 155 pounds.
“I would use muay Thai as a camouflage against both, just like he
used with Dustin,” Rua said. “When they look to exchange, Charles
has an opening to take them down.”
Meanwhile, Rua compared Amanda
Nunes’ loss to Julianna
Pena in the UFC 269 co-main event to his upset defeat against
Forrest
Griffin in his Octagon debut at UFC 76.
“Being a favorite has a good and a bad side,” Rua said. “The bad
side is the pressure the favorite always faces. When everybody
expects you to win fast and the underdog gives you a balanced
fight, you start to get frustrated. I always fought better as an
underdog.
“No doubt Amanda is such a warrior, but I felt after she got tired
and frustrated, she kind of surrendered in that second round. And I
speak about that from my own experience.”
Rua entered the UFC as a celebrated Pride Fighting Championships
star in 2007 and he was expected to dispatch Griffin, “The Ultimate
Fighter 1” winner, with relative ease.
“When I was coming as Pride grand prix champion, everybody thought
it would be an easy fight,” he said. “I got frustrated, tired and
ended up losing in the third round. That motivated me a lot to
train for revenge four years later in Rio de Janeiro. This time I
fought much better and won in the first round. “I just hope Amanda
gets the chance for revenge as I did against Griffin.”