Charles Oliveira says he will charge forward “like a tank and bring damage" in his UFC title bout against Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi in October — then defend the belt against Alexander Volkanovski at the beginning of next year.
Oliveira, 32, takes on Makhachev in the headline bout at UFC 280 at Etihad Arena on October 22. The Brazilian will be attempting to regain the lightweight title he relinquished in May by missing weight before his defence against Justin Gaethje.
Despite riding an 11-fight win streak, Oliveira goes into the contest as the underdog for many given Makhachev’s talent — he has 10 consecutive wins — and the fact the fight takes place in Abu Dhabi, which the Dagestani calls his second home.
Speaking on Friday to The National from London, where he was visiting to promote UFC 280, Oliveira said: “Charles is aggressive. Charles is a machine. Just like a tank, I will be charging forward.
“I will bring my best game, and you’ve seen what I can do. I have my jiu-jitsu ― it's well-rounded ― and I will bring damage in this coming fight.
“I’m there to achieve a proper result, I won’t let the judges bring their decision and their subjected perception of what will happen. Because I will come aggressive; I have a better standing game than he does, a better jiu-jitsu game than he does. And we will see it happen.”
Makhachev, the division’s No 4-ranked contender, is no stranger to Abu Dhabi having fought, and won, there twice already. A longtime teammate and friend of retired former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, he enjoys considerable support in the UAE and throughout the region.
In contrast, Oliveira has never competed in the Emirates, but believes he has shown enough in his last few fights — electric victories against Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier and most recently Gaethje — to cast aside any issue of having to enter enemy territory to reclaim his lightweight crown.
“I’m the one issue in the division,” Oliveira said. “You have seen what happened in the last fight, so I’m here to make things happen, to stir things up," he said.
“The burden of proving oneself is on [Makhachev’s] side. He’s bringing his family, his name, it’s his home town, it’s his own turf. So there’s no advantage on my side. It’s just a challenge.
“There’s no pressure more than the average, this is just run of the mill. I will pressure, I will either strike, I will submit, and I will bring the result at the end of the day. Especially with keeping my mind aligned with what I need to bring to the fore.”
Asked what victory in Abu Dhabi would do for his legacy, Oliveira said: “I love it. Because I believe Islam is bringing the best game, he’s bringing the history of the Khabib family on his shoulders, and we’re there fighting in his home turf.
“This is exactly what we what — to leave the legacy that we beat them in their turf, in their own game.”
Oliveira, 33-8 as a pro, said he has no issue with being considered underdog, and that he was focused only on what he can deliver inside the octagon at Etihad Arena, instead of the threat posed by Makhachev (22-1).
Oliveira denied also that he feels he has a point to prove having been stripped of the lightweight belt before UFC 274 for missing weight by half a pound. To his credit, he then defeated Gaethje by first-round submission.
“I’m not there to go after, to pursue, the belt,” Oliveira said. “The belt is mine. I’m defending it. So, by doing that in the house of my competition, I’m communicating that I’m doing this whenever in the world.”
Responding to why he agreed to fight Makhachev in Abu Dhabi ― he has initially been campaigning for Brazil ― Oliveira said: “At the end of the day, we are working for [UFC parent company] Zuffa, so they will decide. They will put together the schedule and we will just come through it.”
Oliveira, who holds UFC records for both finishes (19) and submissions (16), vowed to knock out Makhachev on October 22. His most recent knockout came three bouts ago, against Chandler, when he captured the vacant title.
Defeat Makhachev, and Oliveira is eyeing a money-spinning clash at lightweight with featherweight supremo Volkanovski. The Australian, currently recovering from hand surgery, has said he wants to move up to lightweight to attempt to become double-champion.
“So I go back to Brazil as a champion and back in January against Volkanovski, it’s back to the octagon again,” Oliveira said. “We all want this. He wants the fight and it’s OK to be in Brazil. We can negotiate a good purse, so why not?”
Signing off with a message to his supporters in Abu Dhabi, Oliveira said: “Thank you so much for all the fan base in Abu Dhabi, for your warmth, for your support. We will bring the best game and will bring a party and celebrate your presence there in Abu Dhabi.”
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
McLaren GT specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 630Nm
Price: Dh875,000
On sale: now
SQUADS
Bangladesh (from): Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Taijul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed
Afghanistan (from): Rashid Khan (capt), Ihsanullah Janat, Javid Ahmadi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Qais Ahmad, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Afsar Zazai, Shapoor Zadran
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Brief scores:
Pakistan (1st innings) 181: Babar 71; Olivier 6-37
South Africa (1st innings) 223: Bavuma 53; Amir 4-62
Pakistan (2nd innings) 190: Masood 65, Imam 57; Olivier 5-59
The specs: 2019 Subaru Forester
Price, base: Dh105,900 (Premium); Dh115,900 (Sport)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 182hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 239Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.1L / 100km (estimated)
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh136,521 VAT and Dh166,464 VAT
On sale: now
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
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Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Dubai Creek Open in numbers
- The Dubai Creek Open is the 10th tournament on this year's Mena Tour
- It is the first of five events before the season-concluding Mena Tour Championship
- This week's field comprises 120 players, 21 of which are amateurs
- 15 previous Mena Tour winners are competing at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20OneOrder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tamer%20Amer%20and%20Karim%20Maurice%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cairo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E82%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Series%20A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
