Lightweight champion Charles Oliveira will be in attendance at UFC 264 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the trilogy bout between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor.
Oliveira captured the 155-pound world title Michael Chandler for the then-vacant championship at UFC 262 in May. The winner of Poirier and McGregor will likely face Oliveira in their next outing.
MMAFighting’s Guilherme Cruz confirmed that Oliveira will be sitting cage side this weekend via Twitter. He also revealed that Oliveira’s conditioning coach passed away on Friday due to complications of COVID-19.
“Oliveira will fly to Vegas on Thursday to be cageside for Poirier vs. McGregor 3,” tweeted Cruz.
Alaelson Albuquerque, Charles Oliveira’s conditioning coach, passed away this past Friday. Albuquerque, 48, died of complications caused by COVID-19 (heart attack days after being hospitalized).
— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) July 5, 2021
Oliveira will fly to Vegas on Thursday to be cageside for Poirier vs. McGregor 3. pic.twitter.com/TPtsbSACq8
In a recent interview with ESPN, Poirier stated that he believes the UFC 264 main event winner will be fighting for the title next. Oliveira being there gives Poirier’s intuition added weight.
“I was pushing the fight at a heavier weight. I wanted to fight at 170 because I didn’t want to cut down to 155 again. But he wants to do it at 155. The UFC wants it at 155, so I know what that means. That means the winner of this fight is fighting for the belt,” Poirier said.
Lightweight champ Charles Oliveira will be cage side at UFC 264 for Poirier vs McGregor 3