New York – UFC lightweight Charles Oliveira finds himself on the cusp of another title shot following his victory over Michael Chandler at UFC 309 on Saturday night.
The victory may have been made sweeter by the fact that he shut Chandler’s ‘once a quitter, always a quitter’ sentiment down from earlier in the week even if ‘DoBronx’ wouldn’t admit it.
“It don’t matter what those people say because they always have to make up stuff to talk,” Oliveira told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum through a translator.
“All I want to do is just train, be happy, come here with the team, and make it happen.”
Oliveira (35-10) won by unanimous decision, but he it wasn’t easy as Chandler was able to get top position during the fifth round, and landed quite a few shots on ‘DoBronx’. During the sequence many fans and fellow fighters expressed concern about some shots Chandler landed to the back of the head.
“I’m not here to criticize, but I want to tell you something. There were a lot of blows to the back of the head. A lot of fence grabbing. There was also some eye pokes, and I was telling him (the ref) what was going on. I kept calling for his attention and nothing would happen,” said Oliveira.
“I would hope that he would intervene, but nothing happened.”
Oliveira is clearly looking for a title shot next, but if that doesn’t happen, there are plenty of exciting fights on the table for him. One such possible fight may include Conor McGregor who is on the shelf until late 2025, per Dana White, but Oliveira doesn’t think this fight will come to fruition regardless.
“This is the guy that runs away the most in the UFC. This fight’s not going to happen,” he said.
“Would it make sense? Yes. Would it be a good fight? Yes. Would people love it? Yes. We both sell fights well, but he chooses his opponents. This fight’s not happening.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Charles Oliveira above.
