Charles Oliveira defends his UFC lightweight title against Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 269 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. I
t’s not only a title fight between two of the top fighters in the world, it’s also a battle between two of the most tenured fighters in the promotion that have had long journeys to the elite.
Oliveira 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.
If Poirier wins Saturday, he’ll become champion in his 27th UFC fight, the second longest road ever. ESPN ranks Poirier No. 5 and Oliveira No. 6 in the world on its pound-for-pound MMA list. At lightweight, ESPN has Poirier at No. 1 and Oliveira at No. 2.
Oliveira (31-8, 1 NC) has won nine in a row. The Brazil native has the most finishes (17) and most submission wins (14) in UFC history. Oliveira, 32, has a 19-8 (1 NC) record in the UFC going back to his debut in 2010.
Poirier (28-6, 1 NC), a former UFC interim lightweight champ, has stopped Conor McGregor twice this year. Poirier, a Louisiana native fighting out of Florida,
has won three straight and has just one loss in his last 10 fights, to former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in a title fight at UFC 242 in September 2019. Poirier, 32, has the most KO/TKO victories in UFC lightweight history (8).
Oliveira captured the UFC lightweight title earlier this year with a stunning second-round knockout over Michael Chandler, boosting his winning streak to nine and extending his record for most stoppage wins in UFC history.
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As he prepared to defend his throne for the first time against Dustin Poirier at Saturday’s UFC 269 in Las Vegas, his longtime coach Diego Lima discussed Oliveira’s options for the future.
“Honestly? It would definitely be viable to see him in both weight classes, below and above,” Lima said on this week’s episode of MMA Fighting’s Portuguese-language podcast Trocação Franca. “Charles walks around 176, 180 pounds when he’s off camp now. When he gets his diet going, he makes weight with no problem.
“You can see his last 10 fights, he basically didn’t even use the extra pound. And not because he didn’t want to, but he just went there and made weight. He made weight the night before [the weigh-ins] for all his fights. There was one fight, the [David] Teymur one if I’m not mistaken, that he made weight two days before.”
