In the last fight of the year, the UFC is returning to Las Vegas with a huge double title fight taking centre stage. Charles Oliveira will be defending his lightweight title for the first time against former interim champion and crowd favourite, Dustin Poirier.
While arguably the GOAT, Amanda Nunes will put her bantamweight up against Julianna Pena. Originally meant to feature a welterweight bout between Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards, Masvidal was forced off the card due to an injury.
Oliveira faces a lot of tough questions as he heads into his fight with Poirier. The new UFC lightweight champion will be looking to cement his status as the best particularly after having had his heart questioned on many occasions. UFC fights against Max Holloway, Cub Swanson, and Paul Felder have all put his ‘dog’ to the test and brought up questions on his heart.
Poirier recently spoke with MMA Junkie about the subject heading into UFC 269. He doesn’t believe you become a champion by chance.
“I would love to for the fight to reach that point where we all find out in front of the world,” Poirier told MMA Junkie. “That’s the goal of mine to get this fight into those deep waters and see who really wants it more, see who is willing to bleed more and leave it all out there because I know I will. No question about it.
“But going to what Justin (Gaethje) said, Dude, I’ve said this. I’m saying the same sh*t over and over again and it feels corny, but when a fighter goes out there – where our last fight is the most important – and he got hurt, came back the second round, and showed championship grit and finished Michael Chandler, a guy who just took Justin to the to hell. So if that says anything, you know, you’re as good as your last fight. He’s a world champion.”
Charles Oliveira has a lot of doubters heading into UFC 269. Many fighters have been doubting his heart and his toughness.
If you’re going to ask Chael Sonnen, he has his eyes firmly set on the Nunes vs Pena fight.
“Yes, everybody’s missing it. It’s Julianna Pena versus Amanda Nunes. Pena represents the most likely threat for an upset Amanda’s ever had.
Every great upset in sports history starts with one side not getting the memo. With a ‘Buster Douglas’ not understanding he’s been brought in to fall down and chooses not to.
“They all start that way. Julianna Pena truly believes she can beat Amanda, Julianna Pena believes that Amanda has ducked her. When Julianna Pena went to the media and laid out her case to even get this, she was upset, she was disgusted, she laid out a very compelling argument.”
The potential to take Nunes to the ground is likely to be the best chance Pena has to win their bout and if anyone has a chance to defeat Nunes, that fight should be more hyped than it currently is.
“It all starts with Amanda and the only couple of rounds that Amanda’s ever lost in her life are because she got taken down and couldn’t get up and that’s exactly the strength of Julianna Pena.
“Everybody is missing this fight.”