Vinicius Oliveira will difficulty a problem to former UFC champion Sean O’Malley after his UFC 318 conflict with Kyler Phillips this Saturday in New Orleans, however advises “Suga” to show it down.
Oliveira has received three straight since debuting within the promotion in 2024, together with a pair of bonuses for his performances towards Bernardo Sopaj and Stated Nurmagomedov, and predicts a fast end over top-ranked bantamweight Philips to be a turning level in his UFC journey.
“I’ll struggle a prime 12 now and show I’m a prime 12,” Oliveira instructed MMA Combating. “I don’t see myself preventing a prime 10 subsequent, I think about myself already preventing a prime 5. If not for the belt already. I don’t have a lot left to show within the division. Have a look at the fellows I’ve fought, look what I’ve achieved to them. I had some hassle towards Stated—I fought injured, in his dwelling, and received a choice. Have a look at Ricky Simon, look what I did to Bernardo Sopaj. I’ll beat Kyler Phillips now and turn out to be a prime 12, after which I wanna face a prime 5.”
“I don’t suppose it’s going to be attainable to get such a bounce in my profession already, however perhaps it’s,” he continued. “I began towards Ricky Simon, which was already a huge bounce. Who can say they received’t give me one other gigantic bounce? I imagine so. Simply placed on a present, say what must be stated in entrance of the cameras there, and I imagine they may give me a prime 5.”
Oliveira needs to be a part of the deliberate Combat Evening card in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Oct. 11, however acknowledges that might lower the percentages of any top-ranked 135-pounder agreeing to dealing with him in enemy territory. Subsequently, he’s open to flying wherever on the earth for that chance towards a star like O’Malley, who appears to rebound from back-to-back title struggle losses to Merab Dvalishvili.
“I don’t suppose anybody within the prime 5 would wish to struggle me as a result of I’m down there [in the rankings],” Oliveira stated. “The man I wanna struggle is frightened of me, he received’t struggle me, and that’s Umar Nurmagomedov. OK, I’ve dominated that out already. The champion, Merab, they received’t give me that. That’s additionally dominated out. There’s a very good likelihood I struggle Sean O’Malley. He’s nice, a whole fighter—not that full, however good and versatile. And he has a giant title within the UFC despite the fact that he’s not in a very good second within the UFC. He’s a phenom.
“If he buys the thought, this struggle occurs. All of it depends upon the trash speak, on how I promote this struggle. But when I had been him, I wouldn’t take the struggle. Or perhaps he does as a result of he wants a win. If he fights a prime 5, in principle these guys are the perfect of the division, they’re more durable than those under. Possibly the percentages of him shedding are larger — in his eyes, not mine.
“If he fights a prime 12 it might be simpler for him to get the win he wants than if he fights a prime 5. What he doesn’t know is that perhaps the fellows from down the rating are hungrier to maneuver up. That starvation makes us harmful. I’m harmful as a result of I’m hungry for the highest. I don’t know if he’ll settle for it or not. He has two choices, but when I had been him… I’d do it, however perhaps if I had been him I’d not as a result of he has extra to lose than win.”
If not O’Malley, the opposite choice up the rankings Oliveira suggests is Marlon Vera, and he even affords to “let him struggle at his walk-around weight.”
“I’ll make weight and he can come at any weight he needs,” Oliveira stated. “Straightforward.”
Both means, Oliveira expects a giant struggle subsequent after he “places on a present and wins quick” towards Phillips at UFC 318.
“He’ll come try this boring sport of his,” Oliveira stated, “Attempting to take me down or attempt to stand with me and understand he received’t have the ability to, after which he finally ends up knocked out sooner than he anticipated. He is aware of he’s getting knocked out, proper? Possibly I’ll knock him out sooner than he thinks.”
