Charles Oliveira nearly slipped on the proverbial banana peel.
The former UFC lightweight champion survived a hellacious late rally from Michael Chandler to earn an otherwise one-sided unanimous decision Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 309. After dominating Chandler for the first four rounds, Oliveira ate a flush right hand that dropped him in the opening seconds of the fifth. Chandler pounced and poured on a flurry of punches in an effort to steal victory from the jaws of defeat, but Oliveira keep his wits and ultimately escaped the sequence intact.
In the end, the judges scored the bout 49-46, 49-46 and 49-45 for Oliveira (34–10, 1 NC), keeping the Brazilian’s dream of recapturing the UFC lightweight title alive.
“This guy is one of the toughest guys I’ve ever fought. This guy deserves to be here. This guy’s got all of my respect,” Oliveira said post-fight.
“Hey, Dana (White), Hunter (Campbell), whatever is next in line, I’ll be right in the first row in January (for the Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan title fight). Whoever it is, I’m the next one.”
Chandler’s late turnaround was made even more impressive because the victory appeared to be a mere formality for Oliveira, 35, heading into the bout’s final five minutes. Oliveira soundly outstruck Chandler (34–10, 1 NC) the opening 20 minutes of the bout, cracking the American with an array of long straight punches, uppercuts, and hard knee up the middle in a masterful show of distance management. But Oliveira’s best work came on the mat — the ex-champ scored takedowns in each of the first four rounds and spent large portions of the contest hunting for submissions from top position and back control.
But Chandler, 35, was not deterred.
The three-time former Bellator lightweight champion came out for the final round like a house afire, throwing hard punches with reckless abandon. Even after failing to put away Oliveira, Chandler delighted the crowd with two gigantic backward slams as Oliveira clung to his back in the final seconds.
“Are you not entertained?” Chandler roared afterward.
“Maybe Max Holloway for the BMF belt (is next for me), or — Conor McGregor, if you can ever get your house back in order while us real professionals have been keeping the Octagon warm, we’re wondering where you’ve been Conor! Come back and beat me, if you can!”
Saturday’s co-main event was a rematch of a 2021 bout that saw Oliveira defeated Chandler to capture the then-vacant UFC lightweight title with a come-from-behind second-round knockout after nearly being stopped in the opening round.
Prior to Saturday night, Chandler had effectively sidelined himself since a November 2022 loss to Dustin Poirier in order to pursue an ill-fated matchup against his “The Ultimate Fighter 31” coaching rival McGregor. Chandler and McGregor were even scheduled to meet in June at UFC 303, however the fight fell apart after McGregor suffered a broken toe. Chandler eventually moved on, telling Uncrowned that he takes “extreme accountability” for his decision to lose so much time in the final chapters of his prizefighting career awaiting a McGregor fight that never arrived.
But after Saturday’s theatrics, Chandler may still very much be in the running for an eventual McGregor bout, even despite losing three of his past four UFC bouts.
Oliveira is now 2-1 dropping the title to Makhachev in October 2022. He also defeated Beneil Dariush with a first-round knockout before losing a narrow split decision to Tsarukyan this past April.
