Oliveira eyes title shot with win over Lopes

Charles Oliveira believes he could leapfrog Arman Tsarukyan in the title race if Justin Gaethje retires.

Charles Oliveira believes that a victory over Diego Lopes in his next bout will secure him a lightweight title shot. It doesn’t matter to him whether Justin Gaethje is still the champion or not.

Justin Gaethje claimed the title this year at the White House event in June. Since then, however, he has left it open as to whether he will continue fighting with the new title or whether he might even end his career after all. If he does continue, though, Arman Tsarukyan has recently been the biggest name mentioned in that context. But that could actually change with a victory by Charles Oliveira, as he has realized.

"I think Arman is there to fight for the title. However, if we're going to talk about name value, what do I think? I think I sell a lot more than Arman. So I could move ahead of Arman"

said Charles Oliveira.

From a sporting perspective, though, that would probably be a bit questionable. Arman Tsarukyan has truly earned this matchup and should definitely get this fight. But if Justin Gaethje does indeed retire and Charles Oliveira wins his next fight, he could almost certainly face Arman Tsarukyan in the spring. There are a lot of “ifs” in this scenario, but how realistic do you think it is?

I don’t think this scenario is all that far-fetched. I believe everything described could actually happen, but the biggest question for me is whether Justin Gaethje will really retire.