Charles Oliveira could have sought redemption at UFC 283 if he wanted to.
The Offer
Following his submission loss at UFC 280, the former UFC Lightweight Champion was offered an immediate title rematch with newly crowned king Islam Makhachev. That’s all according to Oliveira’s manager and coach Diego Lima, who say they ultimately turned down the booking.
While UFC 283 is in Oliveira’s home country of Brazil, the date of Jan. 21 is fastly approaching. Too fast for team Oliveira to make the turnaround, not due to anything physical but mental instead.
“When we were going to face Makhachev, we showed a lot of interest in fighting him in Rio,” Lima said to Super Lutas. “One week after [the fight at UFC 280], the UFC got in touch with us. They gave us the opportunity to fight [Makhachev] in Rio. They have always been really good to us. We have really good talks. It was up to us to accept or not.”
A Well-Deserved Vacation
Accept, they did not.
“I talked it over with Charles. He’s not injured, but there’s emotional stress,” Lima continued. “It’s way beyond physical. Charles is the only fighter that has faced all the top 5 guys within a year. Champs normally hide, they want to fight once a year. That’s not Charles, but Rio is way too close now. We prefer to give Charles a well-deserved vacation.”
Oliveira definitely deserves a vacation. ‘Do Bronx’ finished three top contenders in one year, defeating the likes of Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler.
It looks like we won’t see Charles Oliveira for a while now as he recuperates after his dominating loss to Islam Makhachev which occurred just a month ago.