Earlier we reported that Paddy Pimblett has expressed his interest in a rematch with newly crowned lightweight champion Justin Gaethje, but he’s not the only one as Charles Oliveira has also expressed his desire to run it back with ‘The Highlight’.


“The world knows what happened in our first fight when there was the ‘scale robbery case.’ I got the submission win but got my title stripped,” Oliveira told Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana. “Gaethje also said he suffered an accident before the fight, so let’s make that rematch. That’s the fight the world wants to see.”

Oliviera is referring to the fact that he missed weight by just half-a-pound prior to his title fight against Gaethje back in May of 2022, leading him to be stripped of the belt.

The fight went ahead the next night with only Gaethje eligible to take the title if he won, but it didn’t play out that way, with Oliveira managing to submit him with a rear-naked choke mid-way through the opening round.

Unfortunately for Oliveira he’s never managed to win back the belt, as he came up against Islam Makhachev in his next fight for the vacant title and lost by submission, while last year he was KO’d by Ilia Topuria in their title clash.

The 36-year-old Oliveira is currently ranked No.3 in the division though after his back-to-back victories over Mateusz Gamrot and Max Holloway, the latter of which also earned him the symbolic ‘BMF’ title.

As such Oliveira will feel there’s a compelling case for him to get the first shot at Gaethje’s belt.

However, the No.2 ranked Arman Tsarukyan will also be arguing that he should be next after going on a five-fight winning streak that included a split-decision victory over Oliveira two years ago.

And meanwhile, the man who was dethroned by Gaethje, Ilia Topuria will no doubt also be pushing for an immediate rematch.