Outside Source
Oliveira fought Topuria for the vacant lightweight strap at UFC 317 this past June. Topuria knocked “do Bronx” out cold midway through the opening round. Oliveira believes it was “stupid” of him to trade in the pocket against Topuria. Oliveira has since bounced back with a submission win over Mateusz Gamrot in front of a home crowd at UFC Rio last month. Oliveira (36-11) believes he should have implemented the same strategy against Topuria that he did against Gamrot.
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According to the former lightweight champ, he could have kept Topuria at bay with kicks, considering his height advantage.
“I was stupid,” Oliveira told UFC Brazil. “The guy is shorter than me. What should I have done? Fight more at long range, kick, like I did with Gamrot, making him come and then land the strike. What did I say? I’m going to take him down and I’m going to land my punches. I landed my punches. But he landed his punches on me first. So I was stupid. It happens; it’s part of the fight. What are you going to do? [Focus on] your mind. Come back again, that’s what happened. Come back stronger.”
Oliveira is now plotting a BMF tilt against Max Holloway, who is publicly willing to oblige. To further add to his legacy, the Brazilian wants to fight “Blessed” at the UFC’s White House card in June 2026.
“I think this fight has a great chance of happening because I want it and Max wants it too… I want to fight as soon as possible. Everyone is talking about this event at the White House, why not? When you talk about legacy, it would be something huge.”
Oliveira is 3-3 in his last six, starting with his title loss to Islam Makhachev in 2022.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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