Diego Lima is pushing the UFC to put Oliveira back on ‘the belt path’ despite his recent loss at UFC 300.
Could Charles Oliveira walk into a UFC lightweight title fight by default? That’s what his coaches are hoping for, and it’s not that far fetched given the current situation at 155 pounds.
Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev just defended the belt against Dustin Poirier in June because “Diamond” was the only guy ready to step up and take the fight. Now a similar situation may be brewing for Makhachev’s next title fight, which is expected to take place in Abu Dhabi for October.
Charles Oliveira lost his last fight (and No. 1 contender spot) to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300, but Tsarukyan tried to punch a hater in the crowd on the way to the cage, earning himself a nine month suspension. That means he wouldn’t be clear to fight until 2025. Oh no! But if Tsarukyan makes a video for an anti-bullying program, the suspension gets slashed to six months, putting him back in play for UFC 308.
We’re not sure how Team Oliveira is digesting this news, but “Do Bronx” coach Diego Lima was telling AG Fight in a new interview they hoped Charles can step in if Arman is out.
“They talked a lot, we talked, I told him my idea, what I would like,” Lima said about negotiations with UFC. “But now we have to wait for them to also come up with what they think for Charles. They really like Charles, they want the best for Charles. And I certainly made it clear that we wanted to return to the belt path. Charles and I want the belt, and now with Arman suspended there’s no other names than Charles Oliveira.”
“Charles is second in the rankings, and if you look at the rankings, there’s no one to fight with Makhachev,” he said. “Poirier just fought him. Gaethje just got knocked out. So the truth is with Arman out of the game I believe there is no one at 155 to fight Makhachev other than Charles. So it’s certainly what we want, it’s what Charles wants.”
“Of course it doesn’t depend on us, it’s a company named UFC and an opponent named Makhachev, right? But on our part, that’s what we want.”
We get why Lima is hopeful. The only thing standing in the way of an Oliveira title shot is a hot-headed Georgian who’s one middle finger away from a serious assault charge. Assuming Tsarukyan won’t be available in October isn’t all that far fetched. He could not do the anti-bullying video, or punching someone making the anti-bullying video. Anything is possible.
And if Tsarukyan keeps his anger issues under control, there’s always Alexander Volkanovski.