LAS VEGAS – Mario Bautista hopes Vinicius Oliveira serves as a mere pit stop in his trajectory toward more marquee fights at bantamweight.
Bautista (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) gets his first octagon headliner Saturday at UFC Fight Night 266 when he takes on Oliveira (23-3 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at the Meta APEX (Paramount+). It will be an opportunity for him to rebound from a decision loss to Umar Nurmagomedov in October, which snapped his eight-fight winning streak.
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His confidence wasn’t deterred by the defeat, and Bautista intends to show it against the surging Oliveira.
“What made me realize is I belong at the very top,” Bautista told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “Everyone thinks that Umar can be a champion and probably will be a champion, and I gave him a pretty tough fight.
“I’ll definitely look for the finish (against Oliveira). I think he’s lost like three times by knockout. He’s a live-by-the-sword-and-die-by-the-sword type of guy. I’m definitely looking for that.”
If Bautista, No. 6 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie bantamweight rankings, can fend off the momentum of No. 10-ranked Oliveira, then he thinks he will get the chance to look back upward in the weight class.
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With a win, Bautista said a fight that clearly makes sense is a rematch with No. 5-ranked Cory Sandhagen, who beat him by first-round submission at UFC Fight Night 143 in January 2019.
“I’m completely focused on Vinicius right now, but if everything goes good, I want to get back into the top five,” Bautista said. “One I’ve always wanted for a while was that Sandhagen rematch. I lost my debut, and I chased him all the down to the very top, so I think that would be a great story.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Mario Bautista eyes Cory Sandhagen rematch with UFC Vegas 113 win
