Charles Oliveira willing to be backup for Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler – under one condition
Charles Oliveira offered his services to be the backup for Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler.
McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) returns from an almost three-year layoff to face Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) in the UFC 303 headliner June 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
Oliveira (34-10 MMA, 22-10 UFC) sees a reserve role as a win-win situation for him, but if it’s McGregor that he gets an opportunity to face, his offer comes with a stipulation.
“Stop talking about 170 and Conor McGregor,” Oliveira said through an interpreter during a UFC 301 media scrum (h/t MMA Fighting). “I offered myself to be the alternate for that fight, and obviously, I’m down for that. I’d make some money if I don’t fight, and if I do fight, then awesome.
“The only condition is if I were to fight McGregor, then I’d have to re-negotiate that (contract) before. Once I said that, everyone started talking about me and moving to 170, but that’s not exactly what it is.”
Oliveira already holds a win over Chandler, finishing him by second-round TKO in their vacant lightweight title fight in May 2021. The former lightweight champion is coming off a narrow loss to Arman Tsarukyan in their No. 1 contender bout at UFC 300. Prior to that, he finished Beneil Dariush by first-round TKO at UFC 289.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.