Charles Oliveira came up short against Islam Makhachev in their lightweight title clash at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi.
During his post-fight presser appearance, Oliveira shared what Makhachev’s mentor, former undefeated lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, told him in the aftermath of his loss.
According to ‘do Bronx’, Nurmagomedov told him that all the comments he’d directed towards him prior to the fight were simply to promote the bout.
‘The Eagle’ also seemingly expressed his respect for Oliveira, who returned the favor. The Brazilian said in the post-fight presser:
“We actually have to promote fights. And this is what we did. And we understand that the things that we have to do to promote them. He came up to be and just basically said that everything was just promoting the fight. He had a respect for me and he is a great champion. He has an amazing journey in the sport. And now he has a great champion next to him. And all he was basically saying was that he respects me and it was all part of the game.” [Via translator]
Khabib Nurmagomedov was uncharacteristically vocal in promoting Islam Makhachev’s for his fight against Charles Oliveira. Supremely confident of his protege, ‘The Eagle’ went as far as to claim that Makhachev would ride ‘do Bronx’ like a horse on D-Day.
Watch Oliveira’s comments below:
Charles Oliveira is eager to get back in action
Charles Oliveira’s magnificent eleven-fight win streak ended with a second-round submission loss to Islam Makhachev in the main-event at UFC 280. The jiu-jitsu wizard was arguably outclassed by Makhachev in all aspects before tapping out to an arm-triangle in the second frame.
Despite the massive loss, Oliveira wants to get back inside the octagon as soon as possible. Unsure of his immediate future, the former champion wants to go back to Brazil and assess things before plotting his next fight. A crestfallen ‘do Bronx’ said during the UFC 280 post-fight scrum:
“Today, tomorrow, now, I’m ready to fight, it doesn’t matter. I’d like to fight as soon as possible. I really don’t know who I would choose as an opponent next because you really don’t know what the promotion would choose.”
Oliveira added:
“Charles Oliveira is still the No.1 contender in the division, so we are going to go back home, assess the matter and wait a little bit. No one’s ever going to hit me as hard as life has hit me. So I’ve fallen down, I’m going to get up and get this belt back.”