Justin Gaethje will be paying close attention to Poirier vs Oliveira in December. After all, he plans on fighting the winner.
Appearing on UFC Unfiltered, Gaethje predicted a win for Poirier, explaining why he’s still not impressed by the champion, Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira.
Gaethje Slams Champ Oliveira: “He’s a Quitter”
“It’s a very interesting matchup. I’ve got to favor Poirier, most certainly. “[Oliveira] is a great grappler — he’s a great grappler — but again he doesn’t have great ability to take you down to the ground. Poirier being a southpaw, it’s always funky when you face southpaws.
It’s a little bit different, you don’t see them too often. [Poirier] does a great job at controlling range. Oliveira is not Khabib Nurmagomedov — he doesn’t march forward and march through things to close that distance.
He really needs you to either choose to take him down or he needs you to buy into the grappling with him and go into the clinch. He has some good takedowns from the clinch and I think that’s the only time he takes people down, is from the clinch.
So I don’t see Poirier being in the clinch a lot.” In complimenting Poirier, Gaethje is also dismissing Oliveira’s prowess. Oliveira strung together a nine-fight win streak to capture Khabib Nurmagomedov’s vacant lightweight title. Gaethje, who lost to Khabib in his most recent excursion to the Octagon, wasn’t particularly impressed by any of Oliveira’s winning performances.
“I’m not high on Oliveira yet, and I get a lot of sh*t for it. He fought eight [wins] in a row, but at the end of the day, Tony Ferguson was the best win on that streak by far, and it was after I put him through 24 minutes and 15 seconds of f*cking straight hell. And I didn’t break [Ferguson], he’s not done.
That dude is special kind of dude so he’ll never be broken. But there’s a certain way to fight that man, and I showed you how to do it.
So that win isn’t as great as it was, and it wasn’t as great as when I beat him, when he was on his 12-fight win streak. After that, it’s not as great, and that’s just what I think.”
Gaethje knows that he’s only one great performance away from another shot at the lightweight belt. If he can take Michael Chandler out, as Oliveira did, “The Highlight” will be next in line for the throne.
“I’m in a great position, I don’t have to win eight in a row. I’ve got to win one in a row. So if he wins, I would love to fight Charles Oliveira, because I will show you what I’m saying. He’s a quitter. He is a quitter.”
Do you agree with Justin Gaethje? Is Charles Oliveira a quitter, or is there more to Do Bronx than this? Let us know in the comments.
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