“Just sit on my ass and breathe” – Charles Oliveira laughs at being asked about the time Justin Gaethje dropped him
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Charles Oliveira (L) despite being dropped, rallied back to submit Justin Gaethje (R) at UFC 274
It is almost time for the most heralded UFC PPV card of the year – UFC 280. A few hours, and months of anticipation will come to an end.
Despite the card being fully loaded, from top to bottom, the main event is what has drawn most of the fans’ attention and speculation. Charles Oliveira, the de facto champion of the lightweights who was stripped of the belt in May, for missing weight; takes on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s heir to the throne, Islam Makhachev.
The scrums and the media engagements of both the fighters have been interesting, to say the least. While Oliveira has tried his best to focus on asserting that he will produce a quick finish, Makhachev has claimed his strength in the Brazilian’s previous opponents’ weakness – that is, the fear to take the fight to the ground.
And, that was visible when Justin Gaethje fought Charles Oliveira at UFC 274, in May. Despite having Charles Oliveira hurt and dropped twice, Gaethje refused to go to the ground with him – instead, he chose to let Oliveira stand up, knowing that the UFC’s most decorated submission artist is just not someone who we would enjoy tangling with.
And, just this was asked of Charles Oliveira by Daniel Cormier. The question was posed to Oliveira’s translator, who relayed the question to him– “When Gaethje hit him, and he goes to push-kick, and then he falls down like that, was he almost done?”
A laughing Oliveira answered, “Listen, I felt the blow and he hit me hard. When I went to kick, I thought I might as well just sit on my ass and breathe.”
The moment, in question, can be witnessed in the UFC’s official highlight video of Oliveira vs Gaethje. Justin Gaethje does score a delayed knockdown against Oliveira, but he refuses to go grapple on the ground with him.
Charles Oliveira’s ground is feared by all lightweights, except Islam Makhachev
Heading into the buildup of this fight, Islam Makhachev has quashed any ideas people might have of him being “scared’’ to go to ground with the Brazilian, as he believes that his intense grappling training in Dagestan is more than a match for Oliveira’s Jiu Jitsu.
However, that might not be the case for other lightweights. Looking back to 2020, the ever-so-durable Tony Ferguson, being Tony Ferguson, narrowly escaped a gnarly submission attempt by “Do Bronx”, who definitely would’ve broken the American’s arm, had the buzzer for the round not sounded.
Similarly, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, despite dropping the Brazilian, let him stand up, instead of choosing to engage with him on the ground. However, that tactic was not fruitful in the end – he submitted them both via choke within the distance.
It will be interesting to see who prevails between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira – two elite fighters, who are in their prime and have built their skillset around their grappling. That being said, the key differentiator in this fight could actually come in who is able to trade strikes better – it takes just one precise strike to end even the best fighter’s night!
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Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)