Like it or not, Charles Oliveira had something to prove at UFC 289.
Despite a dominant run as lightweight champion, which included wins over numerous top 10 opponents, the 33-year-old Brazilian still lost a one-sided fight to Islam Makhachev at UFC 280 that looked reminiscent of past performances in which he struggled when faced with adversity in the octagon. Makhachev won on the feet and then tapped out Oliveira — the fighter with the most submissions in UFC history — in relatively easy fashion.
This past Saturday, in his first fight back since that humiliating defeat, Oliveira took out his frustrations on Beneil Dariush with a jaw-dropping performance to earn a first-round stoppage and cement himself back at the top of the division.
“As Makhachev tweeted [after Oliveira’s win], there are levels to this game,” UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier said on his YouTube channel following UFC 289. “Charles Oliveira proved tonight that if he is not the champion, he is just slightly below Islam as the second level. He’s 1A to Islam Makhachev’s champion.”
Heading into Saturday night, Dariush had been promised a title shot with a victory after putting together an impressive eight-fight win streak in the lightweight division.
The same guarantee wasn’t necessarily given to Oliveira, which was likely due to his lopsided loss to Makhachev nine months ago. To add to that, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje are set to square off in a highly anticipated rematch as the main event at UFC 291 in July, with the winner sitting in a prime position in the lightweight division.
None of that may matter now after Oliveira dispatched Dariush in such impressive fashion while already holding wins over both Poirier and Gaethje from past encounters.
“He needed something big tonight in order to merit or earn another shot at Islam Makhachev’s championship,” Cormier said. “Tonight, he got out clean. He’s not hurt. He’s not banged up. He’s not bruised.
“So I envision we’re going to see Makhachev vs. Oliveira 2 in Abu Dhabi. I anticipate this will be a better fight than we saw the first time, because now Charles Oliveira has been in there with Islam. This kid’s a star. This kid is one of the best fighters in the world.”
Makhachev is expected to defend his 155-pound title in October when the UFC returns to Abu Dhabi, but right now he’s just waiting on official word about his opponent.
No decision has been made yet, but Oliveira certainly did everything he could to cement himself as the No. 1 contender in the division, regardless of what happens with Poirier and Gaethje in July.
Considering the questions that lingered after falling to Makhachev less than a year ago, Oliveira handed out some emphatic answers with his first-round finish on Saturday.
“He went after Dariush like he had been shot out of a cannon and he finished him,” Cormier said of Oliveira. “He showed once again why he was the lightweight champion. He showed once again why he is littered across the record books.
“He has stopped 20 men inside the UFC octagon. That is an absurd amount of people for a guy that’s only 33 or 34 years old. He’s still young. He’s still got time. He’s still going to be here for a while. This guy is tremendous.”