Oliveira demands Gaethje rematch after unified lightweight title win: 'The fight the world wants to see'

Charles Oliveira is throwing his name into the mix for Justin Gaethje’s first title defence, calling for a rematch nearly three years after their contentious first meeting at UFC 274.

Gaethje unified the lightweight belt at UFC White House by stopping Ilia Topuria, immediately sparking debate over who faces him next. Top contender Arman Tsarukyan, the winner of the UFC 329 main event between Max Holloway and Conor McGregor, and Oliveira himself are all in the conversation. An immediate rematch with Topuria has also been floated, though Gaethje has publicly dismissed that option.

Oliveira, the reigning BMF champion, made his case in an interview with Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana on Monday, pointing to the unresolved circumstances of their May 2022 clash.

“The world knows what happened in our first fight when there was the ‘scale robbery case,’” Oliveira said. “I got the submission win but got my title stripped. 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.”

The backstory gives the call-out genuine weight. Oliveira missed weight ahead of UFC 274 in Scottsdale, Arizona, forfeiting the lightweight title on the scales before a single punch was thrown. The weight miss did nothing to blunt his performance inside the Octagon, however — he submitted Gaethje with a rear-naked choke at 3:22 of the first round, one of the more dramatic finishes of that era in the division.

For Oliveira, the argument is straightforward: he beat Gaethje once, never lost the title in a fight, and has since added the BMF belt to his résumé. Whether the UFC and Gaethje’s camp view the rematch as the most commercially compelling option remains to be seen, with Tsarukyan’s ranking and the star power of a potential McGregor or Holloway title shot also pulling at the matchmakers.