UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira says he confirmed that he’s “the man” in the division after dispatching Dustin Poirier in stunning fashion at UFC 269 on Sunday morning in the first defence of his title.
Despite holding the belt he captured in May, the Brazilian entered the headline bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as the underdog, with Poirier considered by many as champion-in-waiting.
However, Oliveira weathered an early storm from the No 1-ranked contender to finish Poirier in the third round by rear-naked choke. The contest was called off at 1:02 minutes into the round.
Speaking inside the octagon directly afterwards, Oliveira told the Las Vegas crowd through a translator: "I'm the world champion. I'm the man. They talk. I do it."
Poirier, the former interim champion, had put Oliveira on the back foot several times in the first round, dropping him soon into the match-up with a snapped left hook. Oliveira, though, dominated the second round on the ground, before taking Poirier's back in the third. With the American forced to stand, Oliveira slipped in the choke to submit his opponent and see hold of the title. His win streak stands now at 10.
"They can hit me a lot," Oliveira said. "I'm going to walk forward."
Oliveira, who moved his professional MMA record to 32-8, won the belt earlier this year with a second-round TKO victory against Michael Chandler at UFC 262. It represented his 28th UFC fight, making it the longest journey in history for any athlete to claim UFC gold.
For Poirier, the defeat would have been particularly difficult to take since it constituted his second loss in a championship bout. Now 28-7, he lost to former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi in September 2019, but did then rebound with three straight successes.
In January, Poirier knocked out Conor McGregor at UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi, before once again seeing off the former two-division champion in July, at UFC 264.
"I landed some good, clean shots on him," Poirier said immediately after Oliveira had come out on top. "I thought I was going to get him away in the first round. He's a champ, man. The game plan was to take my time, [but] I brawled again."
In the UFC 269 co-main event, Julianna Pena submitted Amanda Nunes to become the women’s bantamweight champion and seal arguably the biggest upset in the promotion's history.
The American, a huge underdog going into the bout, shocked the MMA world by initially forcing Nunes back before the Brazilian tapped out to a rear-naked choke in the second round.
Nunes, who also holds the featherweight crown, was riding a 12-fight win streak, and was last defeated in September 2014 – her sole loss in the UFC.
"I told you," Pena cried to the crowd from inside the octagon. "Don't ever doubt me again. She tapped and I asked the commission, 'Is it over?' He said, 'Yes, you won.' It didn't [seem real].
"It feels crazy. But I expected to win. The world is my oyster. You have the ability to do anything you want in this life."
A magnanimous Nunes said afterwards: "I did everything I could tonight. I trained hard for it. Congratulations to Julianna. She's a warrior. I knew that the whole time. I'll go back to the gym, train more and get the next one."
