Javier Mendez thinks Charles Oliveira deserves a title shot after UFC 289.
Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) needed less than a round to TKO Beneil Dariush (22-5-1 MMA, 16-5-1 UFC) in this past Saturday’s co-main event at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev scored a dominant submission of Oliveira this past October at UFC 280, but Mendez thinks Oliveira’s quick finish of the streaking Dariush was enough to earn him a rematch.
“Charles has earned that right to be No. 1 in line for it,” Mendez told Submission Radio. “What the UFC feels is different. But from what I see, I don’t see how … I mean, you tell me, guys. You tell me what you think: Do you think Charles earned and did enough to be the next lightweight contender? I think so. But it’s what the fans think. It’s what the UFC thinks.”
Both Makhachev and Mendez were hoping for new blood in Dariush, but “Do Bronx” ended up wowing the American Kickboxing Academy head coach.
“I didn’t know who was going to win, but I was crossing my fingers it was going to be Beneil,” Mendez said. “I for sure didn’t think Charles was going to be that impressive in victory. I did not think that. He totally, totally unexpectedly shocked anything to what I thought he was capable of doing.
“I didn’t think that he was going to be able to do it like he did. I thought a great performance was going to put him in the talks, but I bypassed that, and maybe it was because I wanted Beneil to win. I don’t know. But I should not have underestimated how great he is as a champion.”
Leading up to his fight with Dariush, Oliveira said he wasn’t himself against Makhachev and that a rematch would go differently.
“Well, that’s just what every fighter does when they take an L,” Mendez said. “They’ll say what they say to get themselves motivated, because come on – 10 percent? Come on. Maybe 99.9 percent you showed. Maybe you didn’t show that 1 percent.
“I just took it as, ‘Hey, you know, I’m determined to show everybody who Charles Oliveira is,’ and he did. He proved this point. He proved ‘This is who I am: Come get me.’ Now it’s up to the UFC to decide who gets the opportunity.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 289.
