UFC BMF champion Charles Oliveira said that he is willing to dump his belt if he can’t use his grappling to win his BMF title fights.
Oliveira won the BMF title with a unanimous decision win over Max Holloway at UFC 326 in March, a fight where he used his grappling to control Holloway for 25 minutes despite fans hoping the two would stand and bang.
That has led some fans to say that the BMF title fights should have stand-and-bang stipulations put into them, though Oliveira vehemently disagrees with that premise, as he plans on using his grappling when he fights Diego Lopes for the BMF title in the main event of UFC 335.
Charles Oliveira Willing to Give Up UFC BMF Title
Speaking MMAFighting.com, Oliveira said that if he can’t use his grappling in his BMF title fights, he’s simply willing to just give the belt up.
“Anyone who’s a fighter or an athlete knows that nobody in the division has done to Max what I did to him. Nobody. I respect the hell out of Max, but anyone who watched the fight saw that I made Max look like nothing, both standing and on the ground. My best punches landed, my best kicks landed, and every takedown I went for, I got him down. My ground control was 100 percent. ‘Oh, but the BMF fight is about going there and breaking each other up.’ Then, honestly, brother, here’s the belt. Take it somewhere else. That belt is not for me,” Oliveira said.
“I’m an MMA fighter. I’m a well-rounded fighter, both standing and on the ground. I’m going into the fight with Diego with absolutely no pressure. I’m simply going in there to bring a better version of Charles than the one who fought Gamrot, better than the one who fought Max, and so on. That’s what I want to bring every time, a fighter who’s more well-rounded in every aspect. We’re not going to box, we’re not going to fight muay Thai, we’re not going to wrestle or do jiu-jitsu. We’re going to fight MMA. What is MMA? It’s a mix of martial arts. I’m going in there to mix the martial arts. I’m going into this fight 100 percent well-rounded.”
Charles Oliveira Favored to Beat Diego Lopes
Per the latest betting odds, Oliveira is a -145 favorite to beat Lopes, who is a +120 underdog.
The odds make sense given that Oliveira is the bigger man who has been fighting in the UFC lightweight division for far longer, as Lopes will be moving up in weight to take this fight.
That being said, Lopes is certainly one of the most dangerous opponents for Oliveira right now given how well-rounded he is, so this should be an excellent matchup between two phenomenal fighters when it all goes down in December at UFC 335.
We’ll have to wait and see how this fight plays out, but one thing’s for sure: don’t expect Oliveira not to use his grappling just because the BMF title is on the line.
Charles Oliveira Open to Dumping UFC BMF Title