It was announced today that UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira will have his second title defense against former interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje, who will be challenging for the lightweight title for the second time in his career. The fight is scheduled to take place on May 7 at UFC 274.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto announced the news via Dana White on Twitter today.
OLIVEIRA VS. GAETHJE IS ON, per UFC president Dana White. Championship fight will take place May 7, location TBD. What a fight. And Still? And New? pic.twitter.com/MJv2mMaqtK
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) January 26, 2022
It’s noteworthy that he mentions location is to be determined. Already scheduled for UFC 274 is a light heavyweight championship match between new champion Glover Teixeira and dangerous challenger Jiri Prochazka. It had been rumored for a while now that the UFC was working to get Oliveira on this card as well and that they would be looking to do the card in Brazil, featuring two Brazilian champions in Oliveira and Teixeira.
However, rumors now are stating that it may not be as likely that this fight will take place in Brazil and may instead end up somewhere in the US.
The Backstory
Both Oliveira and Gaethje are coming off recent wins. For Oliveira, he recently completed his first successful title defense when he submitted Dustin Poirier at UFC 269 in December, 2021, much to the surprise of many. For Gaethje, he is coming off of a victory over Michael Chandler (who Oliveira beat for the vacant title in May) in what was considered by many to be the fight of the year for producing an absolutely insane slug fest.
Here’s just a small taste of that fight, but if you haven’t seen the full thing I implore you go to find it:
What a fight between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler!!!#UFC268 #MMATwitter pic.twitter.com/p3MMuB7Ylk
— SportsGrid (@SportsGrid) November 7, 2021
While many speculated that the winner of the Gaethje-Chandler fight would be next in line to challenge for the lightweight championship, it was not exactly clarified by Dana White at the time. There was a lot of speculation that Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protege Islam Makhachev (#4) would jump the queue and steal the title shot from Gaethje or Chandler.
Now that the news has come that Gaethje will indeed be getting his title shot, he tweeted “riot cancelled” in response to being given what he thought was rightfully his.
“Riot canceled” – @Jon_Anik 🇺🇸🥇🌎 Date: May 7th Location: TBD pic.twitter.com/BjsElHaRrn
— Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@Justin_Gaethje) January 26, 2022
UFC 274 takes place May 7 at a TBD location.
