Charles Oliveira has received some advice on how to get the better of Ilia Topuria at UFC 317.
Almost three years on from Oliveira’s loss to Islam Makhachev, the Brazilian fan favorite finally has another opportunity to become a two-time UFC lightweight champion.
Oliveira’s dominant win over Michael Chandler last November was enough to put him at the top of the queue. And with Islam Makhachev vacating the lightweight title, ‘Do Bronx’ will have his shot against a phenom from below.
The UFC 317 main event will see Oliveira welcome Topuria back to 155 pounds. ‘El Matador’ is pursuing two-division glory after bidding farewell to the difficult cut down to featherweight.
Despite his opponent’s size and experience in the weight class, Topuria is being widely favored for the June 28 pay-per-view. But one of Oliveira’s past opponents sees paths to success for the Brazilian.
Dustin Poirier advises Charles Oliveira to fight Ilia Topuria like he fought him years ago
During a recent appearance on The Bohnfire podcast with Mike Bohn, Poirier looked ahead to the crowning of a new kingpin in his longtime division.
‘The Diamond’ is well placed to break down the contest, having engaged in a memorable back-and-forth with one half of Saturday’s main event at UFC 269. On that night in 2021, Poirier was submitted by Oliveira in round three.
If ‘Do Bronx’ is to record a similar result at UFC 317, Poirier has advised him to look back on how he approached his title defense against the Louisianan over three years ago.
“(Topuria’s) confident in his jiu-jitsu. He’s gonna follow Charles down,” Poirier said. “We’ve seen Charles, when guys go into his guard and play jiu-jitsu with him and aren’t afraid of that, he starts breaking a little bit I think.
“But we’ll see what Charles shows up. It’s a fun fight. It’s a fun matchup. I think Charles needs to fight Ilia the same way he fought me.
“He was all the way in or he was all the way out,” Poirier added. “He never really fought me at that boxing range. If he was in, it was clinch work, body locks. He smothered my boxing. Or he was at kicking range.
“He needs to be all the way in or all the way out. He cannot play the boxing pocket game. He needs to be clinching. He doesn’t need to be exchanging shots in the pocket with a shorter guy who can crack.”
Charles Oliveira has vowed to walk forward against Ilia Topuria
While Topuria has become renowned for the feared power in his fists, Oliveira won’t be deterred.
Despite seeing Topuria knock out Alexander Volkanovski and become the first to put Max Holloway out inside the Octagon, Oliveira is still promising to march forward.
That appears to have been music to the ears of ‘El Matador’, who told Ariel Helwani during fight week that ‘all he needs’ is for his Brazilian rival to walk forward.
His predicted result of such action? Lights out.