Charles Oliveira is back in form and ready to take on the world, and a potential fight with Conor McGregor is still on the horizon as well. This is far from the first time that a fight between these two men has been floated around too, as Oliveira previously campaigned for a fight with the winner of the Poirier v McGregor fight. McGregor ended up losing that fight though, and Oliveira opted for a different opponent instead of Poirier in the end. He fought Islam Makhachev for the title back at UFC 280 and ended up getting submitted, sending him back to fight for another chance of reclaiming his belt.
Oliveira recently sat down with Ariel Helwani and a translator for an episode of the MMA Hour and when they talked about his future, the conversation turned to one of the most popular fighters in UFC history. According to Oliveira, he’s still more than happy to take on McGregor:
“What’s happening is that I’m here, I’m just waiting for him. All he needs to do is tell me the place and the time, and I’ll be there.”
Seeing as the Charles Oliveira v Conor McGregor fight has been talked about for quite some time, fans might be unsure as to why it hasn’t been made yet. According to Oliveira though, the ball is in McGregor’s court:
“I don’t know, I’m here. Where is Conor?”
He makes a good point too, as McGregor has only fought 3 times in the last 5 years and has not taken any fights since back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier back in 2021. He has no shortage of potential opponents if he ever does decide to step foot in the octagon either, including finally settling the score with Nate Diaz if he returns to the UFC. Oliveira will always be an interesting opponent for him though and he’s open to booking the fight at any weight class too:
“170, 183 (pounds), doesn’t matter. All he needs to do is stop and do it.”
While a fight with Conor McGregor would undoubtedly be a huge moneymaker for Charles Oliveira, there’s also much bigger legacy fights awaiting him too. He already has a rematch with Makhachev booked for UFC 294 where he will attempt to regain the lightweight title and assuming he does so, there’s a high chance that the UFC matchmakers would encourage him to settle that trilogy before taking another fight.
The full interview with Charles Oliveira where he was asked about a potential fight with Conor Mcgregor was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of MMAFighting: