Charles Oliveira checked all the boxes and looked like a champion with some staying power.
The Chute Boxe star retained his Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title and did so in stirring fashion, as he submitted Dustin Poirier with a standing rear-naked choke in the third round of their UFC 269 headliner on Saturday before a crowd of 18,471 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Poirier checked out 62 seconds into Round 3, having failed in his second attempt to capture undisputed gold at 155 pounds.
Oliveira went tit for tat with the American Top Team-trained Louisianan in an action-packed first round that saw the two men combine to land more than 100 significant strikes against one another.