Charles Oliveira believes the top-ranked fighters in the lightweight division are ducking him. The #6 fighter in the UFC’s 155lbs division says that his team can’t seem to schedule a fight between him and anyone positioned above him in the rankings.
“These five are in their little box, and they only fight among themselves,” Oliveira said to Combate (via Google Translate) about the top-5 in the lightweight division. “Thus, they will certainly remain among the five. They do not open the opportunity. One is injured, another cannot fight, another does not want to fight … How can that be?”
Oliveira then specifically mentioned a few fighters who need to “get out of the way.”
“Dan Hooker fought Poirier and lost, but where is he? He doesn’t fight anymore. Tony Ferguson too. Justin Gaethje understand, waited for Khabib to fight for the belt in October. Conor McGregor, come back or not? They stay in their box and fight no one.”
Gaethje and Khabib will fight to unify the lightweight belts on October 24th. #5 Dan Hooker lost to #2 Dustin Poirier back in June. #3 Tony Ferguson lost to Gaethje in May. #4 Conor McGregor last fought in January as a welterweight in a win over Donald Cerrone.
Oliveira continued to express his frustrations:
“You have to fight, and if you don’t want to, you have to get out of the way. If you are hurt, I understand, if you have a family problem, I understand, if you just came from a fight, I understand. But Dustin Poirier fought a few months ago and now he says he just wants to fight next year.”
The full interview with Combate (in Portuguese) can be found here.
