Charles Oliveira is seen as a sizable underdog heading into his looming fight with Ilia Topuria but the former lightweight champion is not daunted as he prepares to soon be locked into the cage opposite Topuria. The clash will take place at UFC 317 with Oliveira and Topuria doing battle for the vacant lightweight championship in the pay-per-view headliner.
During an interview with Full Violence, ‘Do Bronx’ covered several subjects ahead of his fight with the former UFC featherweight champion on June 28th. When addressing the notion that he is seen as the underdog in this bout while outlining some of the struggles one could face as a former 145 pound fighter moving up to lightweight, Oliveira said,
“I dont care much about what people say there. I know he’s a guy who hits hard. But we’re talking about the lightweight category. The harder category. I fought Justin Gaethje and everyone said he was the guy who hit harder. But when I did, he went down. I believe in the fire and power of these hands.”
Charles Oliveira names the best boxer that he has fought pre-UFC 317
Charles Oliveira mentioned the name of former UFC inteirm lightweight champion Justin Gaethje just a bit earlier with the former facing a deep roster of heavy hitters through his career. With a resume that features names on it like Max Holloway, Jeremy Stephens, and Dustin Poirier, one does wonder who Oliveira sees as the best boxer that he has ever stepped into the cage with.
In terms of who has the sharpest ability in the isolated realm of the sweet science, it was someone that Charles Oliveira did battle with for the UFC lightweight title. In the same interview with FV, Oliveira touched on this when he credited Dustin Poirier as being the person he fought who had the sharpest boxing ability. While Oliveira would end up submitting ‘The Diamond’ in that championship clash, the Brazilian submission specialist spoke highly of of Poirier being someone who fights very conciously, has very heavy hands, and knows how to play the game.
