Alexander Volkanovski thinks Charles Oliveira ended up drawing a better matchup in Mateusz Gamrot at UFC Fight Night 261.
Oliveira (36-11 MMA, 24-11 UFC) rebounded from his knockout loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 317 in June with a second-round submission of Gamrot (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) in Saturday’s headliner at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
Oliveira was originally scheduled to face Rafael Fiziev (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC), who withdrew due to injury. Having trained with Fiziev before at Tiger Muay Thai, UFC featherweight champion Volkanovski says Oliveira got a less dangerous fight in Gamrot.
“I thought it’s a much better matchup for him than Rafa,” Volkanovski said of Gamrot on his YouTube channel. “When I heard he was turning around that quick after a big knockout against Rafa – he was meant to fight Rafa now, and this is like three months after. Not the best idea, against someone like that. I think Gamrot was a better option where he doesn’t have to worry about the KO threat as much.
“The guy’s going to grapple, and obviously, having a full camp, he thought he would be OK wherever that fight went. But with Rafa, Rafa would have been good in the scrambles, would have been landing on him for sure, and you would have had to see if his chin would hold up. That’s why it would have been a rough one for him if he was fighting Rafa.”
With the win over Gamrot, former champion Oliveira is onto bigger things. He called out BMF champion Max Holloway (27-8 MMA, 23-8 UFC), who beat him by Round 1 TKO due to injury in a featherweight bout in 2015.
