Oliveira ‘Quit On Himself’ In First Makhachev Fight

Charles Oliveira is hoping to get his rematch with Islam Makhachev upon each’s return to action.

A Lightweight title fight rematch was originally set to headline UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates last month (Oct. 21, 2023). The pair first went to battle at UFC 280 when Makhachev won the strap via a second round arm triangle choke (watch highlights) in October 2022. Unfortunately for Oliveira, the former champion of the division suffered a bad cut over his eyebrow in training that forced him to withdraw from the match up.

Makhachev instead went on to have another rematch as he faced his last title challenger, the Featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski. Makhachev finished “The Great” with a first round head kick and punches (watch highlights) which now leads him to an apparent rebooking of his second clash with Oliveira. Should it happen next, former two-time title challenger, Dustin Poirier, believes Oliveira’s mental strength will be the biggest factor in him getting his hand raised.

“If Oliveira’s mindset is in it — if he’s the same guy who fought me, who fought Chandler, I think he can win that fight,” Poirier told MMA Junkie. “I don’t think he wanted to fight in that title fight. He looked like he didn’t want to be there. He quit on himself it looked like, that’s my opinion. I know personally he has the skills to beat the best guys in the world and he has done that time and time again. It’s just if he goes in there with his mindset locked in, ready to go, I think he can beat him.”

While the Lightweight title picture unfolds, Poirier will watch and await his next move. “The Diamond” last fought in a losing effort to Justin Gaethje in their July 2023 rematch at UFC 291. Gaethje’s triumph for the Baddest Motherf—ker (BMF) title (watch highlights) tied up the series between the two after Poirier previously won the initial April 2018 encounter.

Gaethje arguably deserves a title shot in his next fight like Oliveira, but if he doesn’t get it, a big UFC 300 trilogy wouldn’t be the worst idea for Louisiana’s finest.

“I would take that for sure,” Poirier said of a Gaethje trilogy fight. “300 would be a great card to do it on, but we’ll see. If I was in Justin’s shoes and he’s guaranteed a title shot, you might not want to risk it, but hey, this is fighting. People get antsy, we’ll see what happens. I’m definitely open to that.”