LAS VEGAS – Only one battle into his UFC profession, Vinicius Oliveira shot a fairly large shot Saturday in Las Vegas.
Oliveira (20-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) outworked Ricky Simon (20-5 MMA, 8-4 UFC) for a unanimous determination to open up UFC 303 at T-Cellular Area, the anchor of Worldwide Battle Week. Then he referred to as out unbeaten bantamweight standout Umar Nurmagomedov, cousin of former UFC champ Khabib.
“I’d prefer to battle a lot in opposition to Umar Nurmagomedov,” Oliveira stated at his UFC 303 post-fight information convention. “He was altering some unhealthy phrases on Instagram, on social media. However he’s fearful of me proper now. He should have watched my final battle right here and he is aware of that it’s not simple to place me on the bottom. I’m a nightmare for him.
“I feel he’ll refuse to battle in opposition to me, so I want to battle in opposition to Dominick Cruz, perhaps, I do know that (Nurmagomedov has a battle), however I feel he was working away from me.”
Whereas asking for Nurmagomedov could look like Oliveira is fast-tracking himself, he’s received a plan in place.
“I don’t want many fights to battle for the belt,” he stated. “I feel in round two years, I’ll be combating for the belt. And Dana (White) – Mr. D, how I say his identify – Mr. D, my boss, he can put me to battle for the belt this 12 months. The top of the 12 months, I’ll be able to battle for the belt, however he can select all my fights that I’ll be ready for anybody.”
Watch Oliveira’s full post-fight interview within the video above.
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