Charles Oliveira has boldly predicted he will knockout Michael Chandler to become lightweight champion at UFC 262.
In the last week, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement has finally been confirmed.
The Russian has since relinquished his belt which will be on the line when Oliveira and Chandler face off on May 15.
‘Do Bronx’ is currently riding an eight-fight win streak.
Most recently he put in a dominant three-round display to beat former interim champion, Tony Ferguson at UFC 256.
Chandler is just one fight into his UFC career.
The former Bellator champion impressively knocked out top contender Dan Hooker at UFC 257 earlier this year.
Speaking to Sherdog.com ahead of UFC 262, Oliveira revealed he is expecting a stand-up fight with Chandler.
“If he takes me down, he will do me a favor. I believe he will pretty much try to keep the fight standing and repeat what he did with Dan Hooker, but if he has one good punch, I have many more combinations,” Oliveira said. “Furthermore, I´ll not run from him like Hooker did. On the contrary, for each of his attempts, I will have a stronger answer. Of course Chandler deserves credit for that debut win, but if Hooker were not so concerned to talk bulls—t about me in the week of the fight, I´m sure that he could have done better.”
Oliviera did not hesitate when asked to predict his fight with Chandler, he said.
“He always comes very strong, and I´ll catch him with a counter hit.”
Do you think Charles Oliveira will KO Michael Chandler at UFC 262?