Next! Oliveira Runs Into Gaethje Backstage

Justin Gaethje has said some pretty harsh things about Charles Oliveira leading into UFC 269 but he was all love after seeing ‘Do Bronx’ beat Dustin Poirier

Charles Oliveira hasn’t gotten a whole lot of respect from his fellow 155ers since winning the UFC lightweight title at UFC 262 in May of 2021.

Asked repeatedly over the past month who he expected to win at UFC 269 between Oliveira and Dustin Poirier, former champ Khabib Nurmagomedov pointed to Poirier, going so far as to label himself Team Diamond. Over in the on deck circle, Justin Gaethje also picked Dustin and labeled Charles a ‘quitter.’

But all that changed after Oliveira survived some adversity in the first round to dominate Poirier in the second and finish him off in the third (watch the highlights here). Khabib sent out this message:

And Gaethje? During a backstage encounter with Oliveira fresh out of the cage, Justin had nothing but kind things to say about the champ.

“That was f—king awesome man,” Gaethje told Oliveira. “That was absolutely beautiful. Nothing but respect, honestly. You deserve it.”

Gaethje expanded on his feelings during the UFC post-fight show.

“I will give no disrespect to Charles,” he said. “He is now the undisputed champion and I cannot wait to fight him. I don’t care where or when … I saw a competitor tonight. I saw a dog and I can’t wait to break his face. He gets hit a lot. He better pray and hope for the next however many days until our fight that he takes me down, gets his choke. Because if not, we see what happens.”

For his part, Oliveira seems completely uninterested in anyone’s opinion.

“I don’t care what people think, I don’t care what they say,” he said at the UFC 269 post-fight press conference. “Look at what they’ve been saying about me. They say I can’t take hits. Look at what I’ve been doing. They say I quit. Look what I’ve been doing. So I’m just gonna continue to do what I do.”

“Listen, I don’t care,” Oliveira continued. “I come here and I do it. I’m not on the internet, I’m not on Twitter, I’m not on Facebook trying to show people what’s going on. I’m here, I’m the champion, I have this belt, I’m gonna keep defending it, I don’t care what people say. I’m gonna do me.”

It’s a good thing Oliveira doesn’t care because this won’t be the end of the trash talk directed his way. It’s even coming from people he defeated, like Michael Chandler. “Iron Mike” is already fantasizing of a world where Gaethje beats Oliveira, he beats Oliveira, and then he beats Gaethje.

Hey, we can’t even get mad about it. We’re down to watch this gang of lightweight murderers fight each other over and over again endlessly. But a lesson to learn from UFC 269? You better put some respect on Charles Oliveira’s name, unless you enjoy looking foolish.