Charles Oliveira’s coach was defiant when discussing the Brazilian’s dominance at UFC 326. | Getty/UFC
Two weeks after Charles Oliveira‘s BMF belt win over Max Holloway at UFC 326, Sherdog.com spoke with Chute Boxe leader Diego Lima about his athlete’s next steps.
“Actually, Charles is returning from Las Vegas with his whole family this Wednesday. Four days after the fight, he gave a seminar in Germany and another in the Netherlands, returned to Vegas, and flew to São Paulo yesterday,” Lima said.
According to the Chute Boxe head coach, Charles’ first option would be to make himself available to the UFC as a reserve for the main event fight at the UFC White House.
“Hoping that neither of them gets injured, because it will be a great fight, but we have already offered Charles as an option to be the reserve for this fight at the White House,” Lima said. “Charles wants the belt, so he could take the winner of Topuria and Gaethje, or if the champion takes too long to return, make some kind of super fight that makes sense. We have a few avenues to discuss with Hunter [Campbell].”
The long-awaited super fight with Conor McGregor is no longer a priority.
“Every time we talk about him it turns into a soap opera, so I think it’s better not to get our hopes up,” Lima said. “Conor is a giant. He said it and he did it. Obviously, it would be a pleasure for Charles to move up to [welterweight] to have a super fight with him and show him that it would have been better if he hadn’t come back, but honestly, I don’t believe he’ll come back.”
DMF or BMF?
Diego also spoke about the criticism Charles received for his use of dominant grappling to beat Holloway and win the BMF belt.
“Wasn’t it MMA? If it was supposed to be a K-1 fight, Dana could have just used K-1 rules with MMA gloves. He fought under MMA rules and not only managed to take the belt from a legend of the sport, but also etched his name in history once again by achieving the second-highest grappling dominance in history. The first is [Khamzat Chimaev vs. Dricus Du Plessis] the second is Charles vs. Holloway, and the third is [Islam Makhachev vs. Jack Della Maddalena]. And we’re talking about title fights at the highest level of the sport. How come Charles doesn’t deserve the BMF title?” Lima said.
“If Charles had stopped in the middle and exchanged blows until one gets knocked out, the belt wouldn’t be BMF but the DMF (Dumbest Motherf—-er). The curious thing is that the same people who criticize Charles would be saying he was stupid for not using his jiu-Jjtsu if he lost. That, to me, is envy.”
