“I don’t care who I’m against, I just want to show that I’m the champion“, so clearly it was shown Charles Oliveira after his impressive victory at UFC 274. The Brazilian submitted Justin Gaethje in the first round. The fight did not last four minutes, but it was the most spectacular of the night. With that victory, Oliveira vindicates himself, since he arrived in Phoenix as champion and leaves without a belt. He did not meet the scale and lost the title. Now he is a number one contender and as soon as he won he ran to Dana White. The boss of the UFC must have confirmed that he was number 1, because the talk ended with a kiss from the Brazilian on the president’s bald head. Now a challenger must wait and Chandler, in the same show, gave us the KO of the night and asked the winner… everything lines up.
The fight had everything. Oliveira, who might be weighed down in a long fight because of his problems cutting weight, came out with everything. He struck first and waged war, but on three occasions he sat down when receiving powerful blows from Gaethje. The Brazilian stayed on the ground every time. He was looking to recover first and play on his field. The American did not enter there. At the fourth intersection it was Olivera who nailed the right. Gaethje fell and that was the end of her. Charles threw himself with everything, he tried a submission, it did not come out and he closed an extraordinary kill that gave him the victory. He is the best lightweight at the moment. He demonstrated it in the cage and corrected his mistake on the scale.
Esparza punished Namajunas’ lack of ambition
The co-main event of UFC 274 was perhaps the worst of the night. Rose Namajunas, incomprehensibly, thought that doing the right thing would win her… she was wrong. Carla Esparza didn’t put on a brilliant fight either, but at least she tried something. Rose was dedicated to moving throughout the fight. She shunned her. The challenger tried some takedown, in the last round she landed good hands…she did what she had to do and what her rival left her. Namajunas thought that she gave him to win, but the judges gave Esparza the victory (48-47, 46-49 and 47-48). It is a fight that will not go down in memory, or yes, because the first strawweight champion returns to recover that belt after almost eight years. That will remain, the combat will not. It was 25 minutes too minimalist.