Justin Gaethje on Charles Oliveira's resolve: 'Deep down he knows his way out'

Justin Gaethje has been critical of Charles Oliveira in the past, and “The Highlight” isn’t exactly walking back those comments as their lightweight title bout as UFC 274 approaches.

Gaethje has previously accused Oliviera of quitting in fights. In a recent interview with ESPN, Gaethje explained his reasoning.

"Something about me, I say what I think," Gaethje said. "I wasn’t being overly critical, he wasn’t a bad champion. I was saying in the times that he’s lost, he didn’t even get knocked out — he quit sometimes. The choice to quit is something that one makes, and once you make it you can make it again, because you know that it’s there. I don’t believe I’ve ever made that choice. I believe that he has. That’s all I was saying is that I believe deep down he knows his way out and that’s to quit when he gets hit too many times, too hard."

Oliveira was up-and-down early in his UFC tenure, but the reigning 155-pound king is in the midst of a 10-bout winning streak in which he has finished all but one of his opponents inside the distance. Gaethje acknowledges that “Do Bronx” has improved with time, but he still isn’t sure that the Brazilian’s resolve will hold up under duress.

“All those assessments were of a younger man,” Gaethje said. “He’s [32] years old. He’s a man now with confidence. A man with confidence is a dangerous man. He’s not the same man that I was referencing. But again deep down, once it happened once, it’ll happen again. And I’m the perfect guy to show it to him. I will show it to him May 7. I’ve got to stay out of grappling positions, but I’m gonna put a hole right in his face and it’s gonna be glorious.”

Gaethje was unsuccessful in his last title opportunity, when he was submitted by the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov in the second round at UFC 254. The former World Series of Fighting title holder claims Oliveira doesn’t have the right skill set to do the same.

“This is a world championship fight. I have to be the best in the world for 25 minutes. If he can beat me, kudos to him,” Gaethje said. “But he’s gonna have to walk through hell, like Khabib did. He’s not as powerful, he doesn’t have the structure, he doesn’t have the frame and he doesn’t have explosive takedowns. He’s gonna have to find me making a mistake, overreaching and try to get it to a grappling situation. Outside of that he better pray everyday that he gets me to the ground.”

In terms of common opponents, Oliveira does have an edge, especially with finishes of Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier to his credit. Gaethje went the distance in a “Fight of the Year” victory against Chandler in 2021, but he suffered a fourth-round TKO defeat against Poirier in their 2018 meeting. Still, Gaethje isn’t putting too much stock in Oliveira’s past performances.

“I watch fights as they happen. I was there at the Dustin fight, I watched the Chandler fight,” he said. “At the end of the day I don’t take too much from anything, because 25 minutes in time is all that matters. If you’re gonna draw too many things from the past and try to influence that 25 minutes from different times, I don’t think that’s how I want to approach it.”