Charles Oliveira will not be intimidated by Justin Gaethje.
In fact, the reigning lightweight champion wants thirsty fanboys to compare resumes ahead of the UFC 274 pay-per-view (PPV) event this Sat. night (May 7, 2022) inside Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz., because both combatants faced and defeated former Bellator MMA champion Michael Chandler.
But only one of them scored a second-round knockout.
“I don’t care if he likes to knock people out, if he only walks forward, I also do it,” Oliveira said. “If he only walks forward, he’ll find a truck in his way because I also only walk forward. If someone asks me if I’ll knock him out, I don’t know. What I know is that I’ll win. I don’t care that people say he’s the heaviest puncher ever. He fought three rounds against a fighter I knocked out in the second (round), so who has the heaviest punch? We’ll find out May 7.”
Their UFC 274 championship headliner is scheduled for five rounds.
It’s also worth pointing out that Oliveira submitted Dustin Poirier — the same “Diamond” who stopped Gaethje at UFC on FOX 29. None of that really matters when the cage door closes this weekend in “The Copper State,” but there’s a reason “Do Bronx” remains the odds-on betting favorite.
For the rest of the UFC 274 fight card and PPV lineup click here.