Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Charles Oliveira wants a crack at reigning UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Lighweight contender Charles Oliveira has an appointment with Jared Gordon on Saturday night at UFC Sao Paulo. However, that does not stop the submission specialist from thinking about his future in the UFC.
In an interview with Ag Fight, ‘Do Bronx’ made sure to establish he was not overlooking his upcoming fight with Gordon, but could not help but claim that current lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, has yet to take on a grappler with his skill set. And Oliveira thinks could pose a real threat to the Russian’s undefeated record.
“I can’t say anything about Khabib, he’s been defeating everybody, He beat all the top guys. But they’re all strikers, none of them were jiu-jitsu guys who were unafraid of being taken down. I’m the answer to his game, I’m the right guy to fight Khabib, I think that, if I win two more fights, who knows, I might have this opportunity to fight him. It would be great since I have my jiu-jitsu and I’m not afraid of being taken down.”
Currently on a five-fight winning streak, with four submissions and one TKO victory, Charles Oliveira (27-8-1 NC) defeated the likes of Clay Guida, Jim Miller, Christos Giagos, David Teymur, and Nik Lentz, His last loss happened in December 2017, when he was TKO’d by Paul Felder.
Now, the 30-year-old is expected to meet Jared Gordon at UFC Fight Night 164, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on November 16. The card is scheduled to be headlined by a light heavyweight bout between former middleweight Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza and contender Jan Blachowicz.