Brazil

Charles Oliveira

USA

Justin Gaethje

Oliveira will be able to successfully defend his belt for a second time against Gaethje

Early on the morning of May 8, lightweight division king Charles Oliveira will defend his title for the second time. After choking out Dustin Porrier, he will face his toughest puncher yet, Justin Gaethje. Oliveira is approaching the fight with Highlight on a streak of 10 straight wins, and the Brazilian has around 30 fights in total in the UFC. He was far from unbeaten in the early days of his career, losing as many as 8 times in the strongest organization, yet Dana White continued to believe in him and didn't break his contract even after "do Bronx" lost 4 with 6 fights in two years between December 2015 and December 2017. Few ordinary MMA fans knew about him, but he is now considered one of the most versatile fighters in the world and is absolutely the best representative of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He caught a wave of hype after beating Tony Fergusson by points with no options and such a convincing victory immediately allowed him to go for the fight for the vacant title. He was still disbelieved, there was talk of his crystal chin and in the fight against Chandler most believed in 'Iron' Michael. In the end, Charles not only managed to knock out the American, he also shut the critics' mouths, enduring a real meat grinder in the first round and surviving a hard knockdown and a submission. The fight with Porrier followed a similar pattern. Dustin was the big favourite, he was considered the unofficial king of the division. Oliveira and Porier were under the control of the latter at the start, he was methodically smashing the Brazilian in the standup, knocking him down a couple of times, but he could not finish it. Oliveira in his usual style bided his time to try and take the fight to the canvas or to perform one of his special moves. He eventually managed to do it. Dustin let his opponent to the back and Charles smothered Porier and defended his title. These wins proved once again that contrary to popular opinion, the Brazilian is able to take a punch, even against tough punchers like Porier and Chandler, and there is no tougher and more technical jab in the division. Perhaps the next opponent will be the most dangerous for Oliveira. Gagey has the most powerful punches in the division, plus he has a great wrestling background and who better to prepare and try to neutralise his opponent's strengths. Another thing is that for a long time Justin stopped relying on groundwork, he likes to cut in the rack and use his wrestling skills only to defend against take-downs. Gagey, after losing his championship fight to Khabib, had just one fight in a year and a half and beat Chandler in a crazy points fight. We didn't see anything new in that fight, Justin defended horribly, staggered a couple of times after Michael's punches and both went swinging without defense. That kind of thoughtless fighting style has taken its toll on results more than once and if Gaithje comes out with a blind desire to knock out Oliveira, he could pay very quickly. The bookies are quite expectantly leading the Brazilian, who is incredibly good in all aspects right now. It seems to me that the fight won't be a long one, both fighters rarely make it to the decision, don't expect an exception on May 8 either. I'm betting that Oliveira will be able to withstand the pressure of his opponent in the opening round and closer to the middle of the fight one of the take-downs will allow Gaitzy to finish and bring the cherished second title defence.