UFC: Charles Oliveira wants to face the winner of Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier
UFC 256 reaction: Charles Oliveira beats Tony Ferguson and wants to face the winner of Conor McGregor-Dustin Poirier rematch, while Dana White calls Deiveson Figueirido draw against Brandon Moreno 'potential fight of the year'.
Monday 14 December 2020 12:48, UK
Charles Oliveira believes that he should face the winner of the Conor McGregor-Dustin Poirier rematch after a dominating win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 256.
The 31-year-old is coming off his biggest win so far after beating Ferguson via unanimous decision in the co-main event of UFC 256, the Brazilian's eighth win in a row.
While the ideal scenario for Oliveira would be to face off against reigning lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, he doesn't believe the Russian will return to action after announcing his retirement, which leaves him to fight the winner of the upcoming UFC 257 headliner between McGregor and Poirier.
"Khabib swore on his father's grave that he wasn't going to come back so, when a man does that, I don't think he's going to come back" said Oliveira.
"You know (Justin) Gaethje can go fight whoever he wants, but I want the winner of Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. I have eight wins in a row, seven of those I finished the fight and I don't let it go to the judges' hands. I finish fights and I deserve a shot. I'm in a position to fight for the belt."
And what would Oliveria's preference be between the two? While he acknowledges a fight with McGregor would bring more money for him, 'Do Bronx' just wants to get his hands on the title:
"I don't really think there is a preference, I want to fight for the belt. That's been my dream and my team's dream."
"Obviously fighting Conor comes with a lot of other things, a lot of money that maybe a fight with Dustin wouldn't involve, but if you want to win the belt it really doesn't make a difference."
Fight of the year contender?
Dana White wants to re-book a rematch between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno after their fight of the year candidate in the main event of UFC 256.
Both men fought to a majority draw in an epic back-and-forth battle in the five-round contest. Both fighters had already shown incredible heart by agreeing to headline less than one month after they picked up wins at UFC 255 and White intends to put them back in the octagon as soon as possible.
"We've got to give these guys some time off, but you absolutely positively will see that rematch. That's another fun fight for us all to look forward to in 2021," he said.
"It (flyweight) is one of the most exciting divisions right now, and we put a potential fight of the year and potential greatest fight ever in the division's history"
And there was even more reason for the UFC president to celebrate with White claiming that the promotion has had a 'record-breaking' year with all revenues up, bar the live gate numbers.
"This year was a great year for us," he said. "We had a great year, great fights, business has never been better. I did an interview the other day with Dan Wetzel, talked him though the business, and basically out business is up, broke records this year, almost every category except live gate.
"So 2020 was a horrible year in many ways for all of us personally and professionally, but it was a great year for the UFC."
