Off the back of his impressive first successful UFC lightweight title defense earlier this month, Charles Oliveira has been linked to a showdown next against the #1 ranked, Justin Gaethje. And maintains the former interim gold holder needs to make outlandish statements and comments about him in order to sell a potential fight.
Lodging the first successful defense of his reign as undisputed lightweight champion, Oliveira submitted former interim champion, Dustin Poirier with an eventual third round standing rear-naked choke win. The triumph came as Oliveira’s tenth consecutively.
Following the bout, Arizona native, Gaethje encountered Oliveira backstage, where they embraced and the former complimented Oliveira on his performance, before calling him the now-undisputed champion.
During an interview moments later, Gaethje, who was now chomping at the bit to share the Octagon with the Sao Paulo native next, claimed that he could not wait to break the champion’s face next year.
Reacting to those comments from the ONX Labs trainee, Oliveira questioned why Gaethje would praise him to his face, before making comments like that moments later, ultimately deciding that Gaethje had to sell a fight against him.
“The guy (Justin Gaethje) is talking a bunch of crap the entire time, and when we meet face-to-face he says he has all the respect for me and what I do – and two minutes later he’s saying he’ll break my face and saying a bunch of stuff,” Oliveira said on the Trocacao Franca podcast.
“These guys hype things up and try to sell the fight with something they are not,” Charles Oliveira said. “If you’re a humble guy, if you’re a respectful guy, you have to sell the fight that way. If you’re a guy that talks crap, you have to sell the fight talking crap the entire time – to my face and behind my back.”
Charles Oliveira maintains he’s not worried about the dangers a fight with Justin Gaethje brings
Ahead of the potential fight toward the second quarter of next year, Oliveira boldly claimed he’s now worried in the slightest about what sort of problems a fight against Gaethje would present to him.
“These 10 (consecutive) wins I got, I’m only worried about what I can bring to the game, not what my opponents can bring, and I believe it will continue that way,” Charles Oliveira said. “I’m not worried about what Justin Gaethje – if it is against him – can bring, but (instead) what I can bring to the game. A striker, a Jiu-Jitsu guy, and MMA fighter, that’s what I’ll bring. Boldness and joy inside the cage. I’m happy and I have cardio. That’s what matters.”