Gaethje Gets a Second Crack at the UFC LW Belt, Charles Oliveira vs Justin Gaethje Is Official for UFC 274

Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje

Justin Gaethje is finally getting his UFC LW title shot against the champion Charles Oliveira.

Gaethje won his last fight in a ‘fight of the year’ contest against Michael Chandler. Whereas, Oliveira defended his LW championship for the first time against Dustin Poirier in an astonishing performance.

ESPN’s Brett Okamoto broke the news on his Twitter. The will take place on May 7, the location is yet to be decided.

OLIVEIRA VS. GAETHJE IS ON, per UFC president Dana White. Championship fight will take place May 7, location TBD. What a fight. And Still? And New? pic.twitter.com/MJv2mMaqtK
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) January 26, 2022

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— Charles 'DoBronxs' Oliveira (@CharlesDoBronxs) January 26, 2022

UFC president Dana White had shown interest in booking this fight but there were some speculations about a Conor McGregor jumping the line and getting the shot at Oliveira. Gaethje wanted none of McGregor’s talk and called him irrelevant in the division.

Gaethje is a former interim champion and his recent loss was to the former champion and now retired Khabib Nurmagomedov. He in his last fight defeated Michael Chandler, from whom Oliveira won the title.

Justin Gaethje wanted Charles Oliveira in Brazil

Gaethje had shared his thought on the matchup a few days back and said that he wants this fight to go down in Brazil. He said, “Nothing is been signed, nothing is been promised. Other than what you have heard and what I have heard. They are big business and there’re a lot of fights that are gonna happen between now and then. So they’re still working their way down to Brazil. I just saw today that they announced Glover and Jiri. So that tells me they are working on this fight card. So, I am expecting a call any day.

Gaethje has criticized the heart of Charles Oliveira in the past but now the highlight has changed his opinion on the champion. Gaethje said, “I mean yeah, I like what I see. At the end of the day, what I said was true. But he’s grown, he has come a long ways, he’s grown up, he’s a man now. He’s a man with confidence. So, that’s what I believe is the biggest factor, biggest difference between the guy that I was talking about and this dude. So yeah, I’m exciting to face that challenge.”

The fight has the potential to be an all-time great fight and the winner of Islam Makhachev versus Beneil Dariush would get the next crack at the winner of this fight.