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Charles Oliveira defends his title.
The lightweight belt was retained by Charles Oliveira after he defeatedDustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 269. (0:57)
12:14 AM
There will be no more underestimating Charles.
After back-to-back wins over Conor McGregor, many thought thatDustin Poirier would become the UFC lightweight champion. He had something to say about that.
In the main event of UFC 269 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night, Oliveira weathered an early storm and then finished Poirier with a rear-naked choke at 1 minute, 2 seconds of the third round. The UFC lightweight title was retained by Oliveira.
"I'm the world champion," he said in his postfight interview. I'm the man. They talk. I do it.
The greatest submission artist in UFC history was a +115 favorite.
He won the belt with a second-round win over Michael Chandler. It was the longest journey for a fighter to a UFC title in UFC history. He was not well known with more popular names like Poirier near the top of the division. "Do Bronx" will be hard to doubt any longer.
The pound-for-pound MMA list was put out by ESPN and it had Poirier and Oliveira in the top six. At lightweight, they had the same number of people at the top and bottom.
In the first round on Saturday, Poirier dropped him once with a wicked left hook. Oliveira gained steam late in the round with a big left hook.
"They can hit me a lot," he said. I'm going to walk forward.
In the second round, Oliveira took Poirier down and remained in top position, landing hard elbows. In the third, Oliveira swooped in against the cage and immediately took Poirier's back. The dangerous back game that Oliveira has is one of the reasons he found the choke.
Kamaru Usman's 15 straight is the second-longest active streak in the UFC behind the 10 win streak of Oliveira. He won the vacant title with the victory over Chandler after former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement and vacating of the title last year. The Brazil native has a lot of finishes and submission wins in the UFC. One of only nine fighters in UFC history to win 20 UFC fights, and one of only 20 fighters to have a 20-8 (1 NC) record in the UFC going back to his debut in 2010, is the man known as "The Last Emperor."
In the past year, Poirier has beaten McGregor twice, the most recent being a doctor's stop of the Irishman at UFC 264 in July when he broke his leg. In his last 10 fights, the Louisiana native had lost only one fight, to the current UFC lightweight champion, and that was in the title fight at UFC 242. The UFC lightweight history has eightKO/TKO victories by Poirier.
"I hit him with some clean shots," he said. I thought I would get him out of the way in the first round. He's a champ. The plan was to take my time. I fought again.
