Michael Chandler delved deeper into the magnificent overall skill set of Charles Oliveira which he perfectly displayed at UFC 289 against Beneil Dariush. Having witnessed his former opponent’s recent performance, “Iron” Mike is convinced “do Bronx” is coming back to reclaim his title.
The Next title Challenger, Bar None
Sharing his fight analysis on his YouTube channel, Chandler heaped praise on Oliveira and declared that even though nothing is concrete yet, it’s clear as day that the Brazilian had already earned another crack at reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
“Charles Oliveira is an absolute savage… Dariush on a long win streak, Charles Oliveira obviously with a ton of fire still in his belly wanting to get that UFC title. Charles Oliveira showed up under the brightest lights, the biggest opportunity, the title eliminator to get him back to a title shot and it remains to be seen if he will get the next title shot against Islam Makhachev but the way that he fought Saturday night at UFC 289, the dude looks like he is coming back for that title,” Chandler raved.
“This is a title Eliminator. This is Charles Oliveira staking his claim that I am one of the best lightweights on the planet. He’s proven it time and time again,” he added.
A Flashback
Chandler went on and explained how difficult it was to stop Oliveira from dominating both on the feet and on the ground. Having lost to “do Bronx” during their title fight at UFC 262, Chandler shared what it was like to be on the wrong end.
“Dariush doing everything that he can to do as much damage as he can but what Charles Oliveira is extremely good at is being on the bottom almost playing possum lulling you, lulling you, into that ground and pound game where you’re going to be extending your arms, extending your limbs, putting yourself off balance and all the while Charles is locking up an arm, he’s locking up your head, like he did against me when I got him hurt and I got on top of him he was just reaching and pulling himself into me as much as possible,” Chandler assessed.
“One thing that I really admire about Oliveira, which is very much different than me, he’s not afraid to take his foot off the gas,” he added. “He’s not afraid to have his foot pressed firmly on the brakes so to speak, and just buy his time and wait.”
The win over Dariush saw Oliveira getting back to his winning and dominant ways. The former lightweight champ already expressed his interest in running it back with Makhachev and though UFC president Dana White has not announced anything yet, he was also sold on the Makhachev vs. Oliveira rematch.
