Charles Oliveira left and UFC No 4. Lightweight Michael Chandler right face off for the UFC Lightweight Championship Belt at an open-to-the-public press conference (Imago)
Charles Oliveira clinched the lightweight title in the main event of UFC 262, earlier this week
Oliveira became the 11th UFC lightweight champion after beating Michael Chandler in just two rounds.
The Brazilian looked like he was heading for a loss after being dominated towards the end of the first round.
However, he switched on in the second round to knock out Chandler in just 19 seconds. Oliveira thereby became the first lightweight champion from Brazil, since Rafael dos Anjos in 2015.
Chandler recently caught up with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto and shared his thoughts on the lightweight division’s future.
‘Iron Mike’ claimed that Oliveira might not be able to hold on to the lightweight belt for a long time.
He justified his claim stating that it was the toughness of the lightweight division that made him come to such a conclusion.
Chandler told Okamoto:
“I think the beautiful thing about the lightweight division is – this belt could change hands every single fight. Look at the top, look at the top 5, and look how close we all are. Look at the degree of separation between 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 [ranks].”
Oliveira will be taking on the winner of the scheduled trilogy bout between McGregor and Poirier on the 10th of July at UFC 264. What a match to mark your first title defense!
In the same interview, Chandler claimed that Oliveira did have a good chance to beat McGregor or Poirier (whoever he faces), but didn’t write off McGregor or Poirier either. ‘Iron Mike’ said it was basically a 50-50 contest.
After toiling for almost 11 years in the UFC, Oliveira struck gold at UFC 262. He wouldn’t be the one to throw away his title easily when he takes on either Poitier or McGregor.
And, to top it, Oliveira has fought way more fights than McGregor and Poirier have ever fought.
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