Oliveira taps Poirier to retain UFC lightweight belt
Charles Oliveira proved the oddsmakers wrong in the UFC 269 main event, defending his lightweight title for the first time.
Oliveira submitted Dustin Poirier with a rear-naked choke at the 1:02 mark of the third round Saturday in Las Vegas to retain the belt.
"Do Bronx" - who entered as the slight underdog for his first contest as reigning champion - took Poirier's back while he was still standing in the opening seconds of the third frame. Oliveira looked for the submission and sunk it in moments later, forcing the challenger to tap.
"I'm a world champion. I'm the man," Oliveira said in his postfight interview. "They talk; I do."
The first round was one of the best of the year, with Oliveira and Poirier exchanging huge shots for all five minutes. Poirier seemed to get the better of Oliveira with his crisp boxing.
"They can hit me a lot, but I'm going to walk forward," Oliveira said.
The second round was different. Oliveira got on top of Poirier about a minute in and held him on the ground until the end. Poirier had his guard closed the entire time - he said in his postfight interview he didn't want to risk Oliveira advancing position and taking his back - and Oliveira landed vicious elbows to the challenger's head.
Oliveira got off to a quick start in the third, sinking in the rear-naked choke to remain the undisputed titleholder.
Poirier said afterward he was surprised by Oliveira's durability.
"I landed some good, clean shots on him," Poirier said. "I thought that was going to get him away in the first round.
"He's a champ, man. The game plan was to take my time. I brawled again when I wasn't supposed to. ... Take him to the third, fourth, fifth and pick him apart."
Oliveira captured the vacant 155-pound belt with a second-round knockout of Michael Chandler in May following Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement in October 2020.
The Brazilian is next expected to defend his title against former interim champ Justin Gaethje, who defeated Chandler in a "Fight of the Year" candidate in November and was in attendance at UFC 269.
Poirier, who held the interim title in 2019 before losing to Nurmagomedov in a unification bout, saw his three-fight winning streak end. He beat Conor McGregor in back-to-back fights earlier in 2021, breaking through as the No. 1 contender.
This was Poirier's first loss since getting submitted by Nurmagomedov in September 2019. "The Diamond" has now fallen short in his two attempts to win undisputed UFC gold.