Oliveira Ready For Poirier: ‘I’m More Complete Than Him Everywhere’

The UFC lightweight champ gives his thoughts on Dustin Poirier’s performance at UFC 264 and their inevitable title fight.

Now that Dustin Poirier has defeated Conor McGregor and McGregor is out a year at least due to his leg injury, the focus can now turn to Poirier facing lightweight champion Charles Oliveira for the 155 pound belt. It’s a fight Oliveira is more than ready for, as he explained to Sherdog in a post-UFC 264 interview.

“Actually that fight should have occurred in May, but Dustin preferred to fight Conor, so they had Chandler face me,” Oliveira said. “I will not change my style to face anyone. We both like to exchange punches, we both like to fight on the ground, but I believe I´m more complete than him everywhere. I’m sure it will be a war.”

As for Charles’ opinion on Poirier’s performance?

“Dustin impressed me a lot, always walking forward, showing a great ground-and-pound game,” he said. “When Conor stood up, he was already tired when the injury happened.”

“Do Bronx” also shed some light on that unusual footage of him as a horse jockey. Apparently Oliveira was racing American Harness Racing driver Tim Tetrick, which is a big deal if you’re into that stuff. Oliveira clearly is.

“I could never have imagined that one day I would be invited to have a one-on-one race against Tetrick, who is the best in the world in that sport,” he said. “Thanks to this [UFC] title I´ll accomplish one more dream in my life.”

“It’s interesting that whenever I talk about that, people ask me to not get hurt,” he continued. “I´ve already ridden bulls, horses. When you practice MMA, you learn that bruises may appear when you wake from the bed. The most important thing is to be happy, and I´ve never been so happy in my life.”

A happy Oliveira is a dangerous Oliveira. As of now we have no date for a Poirier showdown but Dustin mentioned December as a possible target. We’ll keep you posted as the story develops.