WEIGHT WATCHER
A SUPREMELY confident Charles Oliveira is predicting no drama on the scale and no issues in the Octagon when he faces Islam Makhachev to reclaim his lightweight title this weekend.
Oliveira declared he would knock out Makhachev in the first round of their UFC 280 clash in Abu Dhabi on Sunday (5am AEDT on Main Event).
But first he must make weight, shockingly losing his title on the scales in his previous bout, which he won by submitting Justin Gaethje in the opening round.
The Brazilian was livid the UFC took his belt, claiming the scales at the weigh-in were faulty – a concern other fighters on the card also expressed.
So while he defeated Gaethje, it had already been determined he could not claim the title given he’d weighed in at 155.5 pounds, missing the cut by half a pound.
Oliveira, on an 11-fight win streak, takes on Makhachev, who is on a 10-fight win streak.
“I was born for this,” Oliveira told News Corp through an interpreter. “This is part of my legacy, part of my story.
“I’m not scared of anyone. I respect everyone, but I’m not scared to fight anybody.
“I will knock Makhachev out in the first round. The entire fight I’ll be moving forward, stick to my game plan, and that’s how I’m going to do it, just keep coming forward.”
As for the weigh-in, Oliveira said: “Last time, I was on weight, I don’t feel there was anything wrong because I checked my weight. My weight was fine, but when I went there I got robbed of it.
“There’s nothing you can do, right? It was a very sad moment for me, because there was nothing I could do. It’s sad for my legacy.”
Makhachev is trained by legendary submission artist Khabib Nurmagomedov, who earlier this week questioned Oliveira’s vaunted ground game given he had been submitted eight times earlier in his career.
“With time, we learn and we grow,” Oliveira said.
“This is the past now, it’s a different time and a different Charles Oliveira, I’ve learned from the past.”
Oliveira said the birth of his daughter Tayla in 2017 completely changed his perspective on life, and his desire to succeed.
“The birth of my daughter changed everything for me, she was my first child, I wanted to do a lot of things for her and do everything correct,” he said.
Oliveira needed corrective eye surgery due to being nearsighted, saying that throughout his career he’d had blurry vision and saw three faces, trying to hit the middle one.
His eyes are now clearly focused on regaining the lightweight title, and beyond.
Oliveira has already flagged the prospect of fighting Australia’s Alex Volkanovksi twice – once for Volkanovski’s featherweight belt, and then a rematch at lightweight.
““First of all, we’re going to focus on what happens (at UFC 280),” Oliveira told reporters.
“My timing is to actually fight in Brazil afterwards.
: If we’re going to make this happen with Volkanovski, we’re going to fight in two weight divisions. I can fight (in Australia) in February but for his belt.
“I have a great team to get down to 145.”