This weekend, two of the best fighters in the lightweight division would square off at UFC 269. Charles Oliveira, the current UFC Lightweight champion, would defend his title against Dustin Poirier, who is currently number one in the lightweight rankings. It is going to be one of the toughest fights of the year, involving two highly-rated fighters.
Oliveira won the Lightweight title, which was vacant, back in May after defeating Michael Chandler via TKO in the second round. It was also the same fight that he broke the record for the most UFC finishes, which was 17.
This was not the first time he broke a record as he broke the UFC record for most submission wins in 2020, with 14 submissions, breaking his former record of 13. He has a career record of 8 losses from 40 fights. His last loss was in 2017, 10 fights ago. He has managed to stay in top form and has dominated his division in every possible way.
Poirier is currently the best fighter in the lightweight division and has had an impressive career, with 6 losses from 35 fights. In 2019, he came against Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC Lightweight title but lost, his most recent loss. Since then, he has fought just three times and has won all. Back in July this year, he made waves when he defeated Conor McGregor in just one round, which was very impressive. But Poirier has stayed quite impressive for most of his career and has done everything but win the Lightweight title, which he would try to do on Saturday when he faces Oliveira.
Oliveira is the favourite for this fight, seeing as he has the title and has also performed quite well in his recent fights, and also because he has a reputation for fighting his opponents into submission. But it remains to be seen how well he can hold up against the number one man in the division.
Written by: Leon Osamor