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One retired UFC icon thinks fans will be surprised during UFC Rio.
Charles Oliveira is set to headline the UFC’s next “Fight Night” event on Saturday. He was initially set to meet Rafael Fiziev, who suffered an injury. Mateusz Gamrot has stepped up as a replacement opponent. It’ll be Oliveira’s first fight in Brazil since 2020, and the first time there with a live crowd since 2019.
Ahead of the weekend, Dustin Poirier spoke to MMAJunkie.com and he discussed Oliveira’s quick turnaround following a knockout loss to Ilia Topuria back in June. “The Diamond” also said that one aspect of Gamrot’s game has improved to the point where he might stun fans.
“That was a pretty devastating knockout,” Poirier said. “Any time someone gets put out like that, I definitely don’t recommend them turning around as quickly as possible. Take some time off. We saw it with Alexander Volkanovski. We’ve seen it time and time again. You need to recovery, regroup, let things heal. But even turning around that quick, Gamrot has knocked out people in the UFC before. With four-ounce gloves, even though we don’t think of Gamrot as a power, one-hit puncher, he is.
“Everybody is with four-ounce gloves. It’s a dangerous fight. Dangerous fight for Charles, especially if he can’t get the takedown on Gamrot. We’ll see. Gamrot’s boxing game has improved so much over the past two years. I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people.”
This will be a big opportunity for Gamrot. After his momentum was halted by losses against Beneil Dariush and Dan Hooker, Gamrot could prove that he’s ascended to a new level in the lightweight division. Gamrot is the most recent fighter to hand No. 2-ranked Arman Tsarukyan a loss.
Stick with BJPenn.com for this Saturday for coverage of UFC Rio.
