Charles Oliveira is ready to show the world he can become the next UFC champion with a win over Dustin Poirier.
Lightweight contender Charles Oliveira does not know what his next UFC fight will be, but that is not stopping him from making plans. After watching Dustin Poirier knock out Conor McGregor at UFC 257, ‘Do Bronx’ believes no other pairings make more sense than the Dimaond himself for his next outing, especially with a title on the line.
In an interview with Ag Fight, Charles pointed out how he respects Dustin’s skills and ability to finish a fight at any point, but still believes he can put the Diamond away. The way Oliveira analyzes the hypothetical encounter, Poirier would be in trouble once the fight hit the mat and the pair started to scramble.
“If this fight happens, it would probably be in May or June,” Oliveira said. “Poirier just had a fight, I don’t know if he’s hurt or anything, but he doesn’t like to have his fights so close to one another. He likes to spend time with his family. That’s why I think it would be in May or June. I’m training again, I train everyday. I’m focused, I’m waiting. This is my time. I’ll be an UFC champion in 2021, in the name of Jesus. I just need to keep my feet on the ground and make it happen.”
“There’s no denying it,” Charles continued. “Everyone knows my game. Whenever I can, I take the fight to the ground and go to work. Poirier is really tough on the feet, he’s been knocking everyone out. However, I’ve evolved on the feet and now I can stand with all of those guys. The fights starts on the feet and of course I would respect him, because he has heavy hands. But when the opportunity shows up, I’ll take him down and finish it.”
In his last outing, Charles Oliveira (30-8-1 NC) defeated Tony Ferguson in a dominant unanimous decision win, which put the Brazilian on an eight-fight winning streak. During this run, the 31-year-old also picked up victories over other notable names, such as Kevin Lee, Jim Miller and Clay Guida. Do Bronx’s last loss happened in December 2017, when he was knocked out by Paul Felder.