By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Charles Oliviera proved why he is the best lightweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Facing the toughest test in his young championship career, the slick and talented Brazilian submission artist was true to his word and finished Dustin Poirier in his first title defense via a standing rear-naked choke in the third round of the UFC 269 main event.
However, the defending UFC champion faced early adversity as Poirier’s striking prevailed in the first five minutes of action.
Poirier landed several heavy bombs that knocked down Oliviera a couple of times including a clean right hook that went straight to his jaw.
Oliviera was falling behind in the scorecards after the first round as Poirier connected 56 clean head strikes compared to his 29.
As the second round started, Oliviera knew he would have to bring the match to the ground to swing the advantage back to his side.
The champion immediately gunned for a takedown which he successfully did, getting back his fight rhythm while punishing Poirier with nasty elbows to the head.
Oliviera then finished the match in style after pulling off a jaw-dropping standing rear-naked choke with 3:59 left in the third round.
After getting the position against Poirier, Oliviera had a quick transition move that enabled him to jump off the back and added another stellar submission win in his legendary UFC career.
