Charles Oliveira (image via UFC/YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Following Charles Oliveira’s championship win at UFC 262, oddsmakers have him as an underdog in bouts against Conor McGregor or Dustin Poirier, and ‘do Bronx’ is just fine with that.

Oliveira faced Michael Chandler for the promotion’s vacant lightweight title on May 15, and secured the belt by stopping the former Bellator champ in round two. Although it hasn’t been officially announced who Oliveira will fight next, the expectation is the winner of the July 10, Poirier – McGregor rubber match will receive a title shot.

Recently Oliveira spoke with MMA Fighting. When asked if his underdog status for fights with McGregor or Poirier bothers him, the noted finisher stated this.

“No, that makes me happy. I like being the underdog. I go there and prove it. Brother, I’ve made history ever since I got in the UFC. Every time people said I couldn’t do something, I went there and proved them wrong. When they gave me someone and said they would knock me out, I proved them wrong. Every time they said someone would knock me out, they ended up beat up on the feet and shooting for takedowns. I show my firepower, my knockout power. I’ll tell you this, being the underdog or “the man of the hour” makes no difference to me. What matters is what you can do in there. Every time you get in there is 50-50 and whoever has the best strategy and is better prepared will win.”

And, while discussing whether he expects to fight the winner of Poirier – McGregor III, Oliveira said the following.

“I think so. There’s not much they can do [other than that], there’s nowhere to go. I think that’s the fight to make, so I’ll wait and see what happens. I’m enjoying the moment, but I won’t stop training.”

The 31-year-old Oliveira (31-8, 1 NC) is riding a nine-fight winning streak and hasn’t been defeated since 2017, when he was stopped by Paul Felder.