Charles of the Bronx is confident to face Topuria in UFC 317. Photo: Reproduction X/UFC
The time has come: finally Charles of the Bronx will fight again by the belt in the lightweight category (up to 70,3 kg). The Brazilian is confident and revealed that he will go after Ilia Topuria. On Tuesday (13), Dana White announced the vacancy of the 'crown' of the division, with Islam makhachev to change to fight at welterweight (up to 77kg) after his friend Belal Muhammad | lost the title. Jack Della Maddalena is the new champion after winning the main fight of the UFC 315, on Saturday (10).
In an interview with the channel 'MMA Hoje', still on Tuesday, the 'Leão Embaçado' commented on the expectation of receiving the newcomer to the category, former featherweight champion (up to 65,7 kg).
“It took me a while to get into shape, to gain mass, to be ready to fight at 70 kilos. He is smaller than me, so I believe he is not that heavy either. I don’t know how his team is doing the work of getting up, of being strong enough to be able to fight at 70 (kilos),” he said. Charles of the Bronx to 'MMA Today'.
During the conversation, the Brazilian showed a lot of confidence and revealed his game plan: he will use striking and go after the Georgian-Spanish.
'What I know is that I'm ready, I know the firepower I have in my hands, I know how far I'm going to go in this fight, you know? I'm a true lightweight. I'm a guy who moves forward, I'm a guy who looks for a fight. Like I said, I respect any of my opponents, but I'm ready and I'm going to make it happen,' said the UFC record holder.
In the same interview, Charles spoke about the importance of the confrontation against Ilia Topuria be for the linear belt and not the interim one as was suggested, given the unavailability of the then champion Islam makhachev.
“I was looking for a title. Of course, I certainly didn’t want to fight for the interim, but if I did, I would also go after that belt that was once vacant and when they called me, I went there and made it happen, it happened the same way: it became vacant, they called me and I’m going to make it happen again,” said Charles.
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