Charles Oliveira Dismisses Islam Makhachev’s Callouts as ‘Marketing Game’

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Charles Oliveira is not buying into Islam Makhachev’s perceived bluster.

On Wednesday, Makhachev called his shots on social media, where he stated his preferred upcoming schedule. According to the champion, his first appearance would be on June 8 against Justin Gaethje, then he wanted to return in November in New York City against the winner of Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan. After that, he would make another defense in February 2025 against anyone. Count Oliveira among those that do not believe things will play out as Makhachev has planned.

The reason for Makhachev’s late start to the year was two-fold: he sustained an injury, and Ramadan will be taking place from March 10 to April 9 in 2024. This meant that the Dagestan native would need some time to rehab his injuries and train properly, thus the June start time. Oliveira does not buy it, and on Thursday, he explained why to Ag. Fight.

“What came to us is that Islam got injured, he will only be able to fight towards the end of the year, practically, middle of the year,” Oliveira remarked. “I really can’t say. They told me he’s coming back from an injury…The fact is that this fight doesn't even make sense to happen. How is he going to fight Gaethje in June if it was just said by [UFC President] Dana [White] himself that the winner of Charles and Arman is the guy who will fight for the title? So, in reality, I believe he is just doing some kind of marketing game.”

Oliveira’s coach, Diego Lima, took it a step further. He told Sherdog on Friday that he thinks Makhachev is buying time or possibly even avoiding the man Makhachev submitted to win the lightweight belt in October 2022.

“I want to make it clear that we have total respect for Makhachev,” Lima stated, “but he definitely doesn't want to fight Charles. The fact is that the UFC knows that this fight is the one that makes sense. And Charles will show that, winning his next challenge and having a totally different fight than the first one with Makhachev.”