There may not be a better person to pick the winner of Justin Gaethje vs Charles Oliveira than Michael Chandler. The current UFC lightweight has fought both men on big pay-per-view cards.
Michael Chandler has seen the way both men fight and recently made his pick for the UFC 274 fight. He surprisingly went with the champion on this one.
“I would not have given Charles Oliveira a chance to beat Justin Gaethje up until about the last 12 months.” Chandler said on ‘DC & RC‘ via MiddleEasy. “Charles Oliveira has come back essentially from the dead and resurrected his career from the dead. He was spotty, up and down, could never be relied upon when it comes to performances.”
Charles Oliveira has become a dangerous man both on the feet and on the ground. The best example of this is in his win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 269 back in December.
“Just the way that he is turned into a deadly striker as well as one of the greatest submission artists that, that the sport has ever seen as well as going out there and finishing myself… (and) Dustin. That kind of stuff comes with a little bit of extra confidence with each time he steps inside of the octagon.”
“I think he’s going to be the most confident Charles Oliveira that we have ever seen. After the year of 2021 that we just saw in him gaining that title and then defending that title.”
The fight is a very close one and it's difficult to make an official pick in such a high-level fight. Michael Chandler is sticking with the UFC lightweight champion.
“Justin Gaethje, as we all know he is a killer,” Chandler continued. “I think it’s gonna be an extremely exciting fight. Still, I think I give the edge to Charles Oliveira. He just has too many tools and we all know how Justin Gaethje can win.
“[But] Charles Oliveira has also proven a lot of us in a lot of the doubters wrong [that believed] he can’t be in there, in those wars. He’s a lot tougher and a lot more resilient than we thought he was.”
“I’m excited.” Chandler added. “Maybe I’ll be on the card with them. We’ll see.”
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