By: Udit Pandit Image credit: Yahoo Finance
Former lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira will challenge Islam Makhachev, the current lightweight champion, after almost a year since their first encounter, where Makhachev submitted Oliveira.
As the UFC prepares for the battle for the lightweight title rematch, Charles Oliveira admitted that he 'bluffed' about having an injury to make a change in the time and place for the rematch.
In the bout that is supposed to happen in the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, in October, where the pair clashed initially, the Brazilian would be looking forward to avenging that loss to the Russian.
However, at some point, it seemed that Oliveira might not be fit to go against Makhachev in October, which led to some fans wondering whether the bout would take place at all in Abu Dhabi.
Recently, while talking to MMA Hour, Oliveira revealed his injury, which was not as bad as he had suggested. “What changed is that I just learned how to play. Now I’m playing,” stated Charles.
“What I knew was that the UFC was planning to maybe have a fight in Brazil in November, Obviously it didn’t work, so now I’m fighting in October, but that’s what I was doing: I was bluffing.”
Adding to his statement, he made it clear that he was pushing for the fight in Brazil in November. Oliveira held the title from May 2021 until May 2022, prior to being stripped of the gold.
Charles was stripped of the title because he missed the weight just before his scheduled title defense against Justin Gaethje and submitted Justin to put himself up for his first fight with Islam.
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