LAS VEGAS — There will be no more underestimating Charles Oliveira.
After back-to-back stoppage wins over Conor McGregor, many thought Dustin Poirier becoming UFC lightweight champion was a foregone conclusion. Oliveira had a little something to say about that.
Oliveira weathered an early storm and then finished Poirier via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1 minute, 2 seconds of the third round Saturday night in the main event of UFC 269 at T-Mobile Arena. With the victory, Oliveira retained the UFC lightweight title.
“I’m the world champion,” Oliveira said in his postfight interview through an interpreter. “I’m the man. They talk. I do it.”
Oliveira, the greatest submission artist in UFC history, won the belt with a second-round TKO win over Michael Chandler at UFC 262 in May. That was Oliveira’s 28th UFC fight, the longest journey for any fighter to a UFC title in history. Yet, he remained unheralded with more popular names like Poirier near the top of the division. It’ll be hard to doubt “Do Bronx” any longer.
Coming in, ESPN had Poirier ranked No. 5 and Oliveira ranked No. 6 in the world on its pound-for-pound MMA list. At lightweight, ESPN had Poirier at No. 1 and Oliveira at No. 2.
On Saturday, Poirier rocked Oliveira several times in the first round, dropping him once with a wicked left hook. But Oliveira survived the barrage and gained momentum late in the round with a big left hook.
“They can hit me a lot,” Oliveira said. “I’m gonna walk forward.”
Oliveira took Poirier down early in the second round and remained in top position, landing hard elbows, for most of the round. In the third, Oliveira swooped into a clinch against the cage and immediately took Poirier’s back with Poirier standing up. Oliveira, who has one of the most dangerous back gamesn in MMA, looked for the choke and found it despite Poirier trying to fight his hands.
Oliveira (32-8, 1 NC) has won 10 in a row. He took home the vacant title with the victory over Chandler following former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement and vacating of the title last year. The Brazil native has the most finishes (18) and most submission wins (15) in UFC history. Oliveira, 32, has a 20-8 (1 NC) record in the UFC going back to his debut in 2010.
Poirier (28-7, 1 NC), a former UFC interim lightweight champ, beat McGregor twice this year, the latter a doctor’s stoppage TKO of McGregor at UFC 264 in July when McGregor broke his leg. Poirier, a Louisiana native fighting out of Florida, had won three straight coming in and had just one loss in his last 10 fights, to Nurmagomedov in a title fight at UFC 242 in September 2019. Poirier, 32, has the most KO/TKO victories in UFC lightweight history (8).
“I landed some good, clean shots on him,” Poirier said. “I thought I was gonna get him away in the first round. He’s a champ, man. The game plan was to take my time. I brawled again.”