The fight between Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira e Michael Chandler no UFC 309which takes place on November 16, is confirmed — and the Brazilian’s preparations are in full swing.
In an interview with OneTwo Sports on Wednesday (6), the former lightweight champion spoke about his expectation of facing the American once again, but in a completely different scenario, as Chandler hasn’t fought in two years.
“It’s going to be a great fight, he’s a good guy, he deserves all the respect. I think [o tempo sem lutar] It varies a lot from person to person. For me it would be bad, I don’t know what it’s like for him. I just know that I’m happy and focused, that’s the most important thing,” said Oliveira.
Charles and Chandler faced each other for the first time in 2021, for the division belt. The Brazilian won by knockout in the second round and won the lightweight title. At the time, the two had had their previous fight less than six months earlier — which is the case with Oliveira now.
From the Bronx, he comes from a defeat to Arman Tsarukyan by split decision from the referees, at the historic UFC 300, which took place in April this year. Happy to be on the UFC 309 card, Charles has spent the last month balancing his training routine with the birth of his second son, Dominic, on October 5th.
“I’m very happy! When we found out about the fight, we did the math and knew it would be very close [do nascimento]. It’s a bit complicated, a lot of overhead, but his mother understands these things a lot, so we are 100% reconciling everything”, he said.
Charles do Bronx’s team denies fight is “at risk”
On Wednesday morning (6), news circulated on social media that the rematch between Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler would be at risk, and the UFC would be urgently looking for a new opponent for the Brazilian.
“The guys are publishing, Charles was here training. As far as I know, everything is fine with Chandler too, the UFC didn’t contact us for absolutely anything. Certainly, if Chandler had suffered an accident, the UFC would have already notified us” , Diego Lima, Oliveira’s coach, told the reporter.
UmDois Esportes also contacted Ultimate, who denied that the fight was at risk. The two athletes even used social media to confirm the fight in New York.