Vinicius Oliveira will issue a challenge to former UFC champion Sean O’Malley after his UFC 318 clash with Kyler Phillips this Saturday in New Orleans, but advises “Suga” to turn it down.
Oliveira has won three straight since debuting in the promotion in 2024, including a pair of bonuses for his performances against Bernardo Sopaj and Said Nurmagomedov, and predicts a quick finish over top-ranked bantamweight Philips to be a turning point in his UFC journey.
“I’ll fight a top 12 now and prove I’m a top 12,”
Oliveira told MMA Fighting. “I don’t see myself fighting a top 10 next, I imagine myself already fighting a top 5. If not for the belt already. I don’t have much left to prove in the division. Look at the guys I’ve fought, look what I’ve done to them. I had some trouble against Said—I fought injured, in his home, and won a decision. Look at Ricky Simon, look what I did to Bernardo Sopaj. I’ll beat Kyler Phillips now and become a top 12, and then I wanna face a top 5.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be possible to get such a jump in my career already, but maybe it is,” he continued. “I started against Ricky Simon, which was already a gigantic jump. Who can say they won’t give me another gigantic jump? I believe so. Just put on a show, say what needs to be said in front of the cameras there, and I believe they can give me a top 5.”
Oliveira wants to be part of the planned Fight Night card in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Oct. 11, but acknowledges that would decrease the odds of any top-ranked 135-pounder agreeing to facing him in enemy territory. Therefore, he’s open to flying anywhere in the world for that opportunity against a star like O’Malley, who looks to rebound from back-to-back title fight losses to Merab Dvalishvili.
“I don’t think anyone in the top 5 would want to fight me because I’m down there [in the rankings],” Oliveira said. “The guy I wanna fight is scared of me, he won’t fight me, and that’s Umar Nurmagomedov. OK, I’ve ruled that out already. The champion, Merab, they won’t give me that. That’s also ruled out. There’s a good chance I fight Sean O’Malley. He’s great, a complete fighter—not that complete, but good and versatile. And he has a big name in the UFC even though he’s not in a good moment in the UFC. He’s a phenom.
“If he buys the idea, this fight happens. It all depends on the trash talk, on how I promote this fight. But if I were him, I wouldn’t take the fight. Or maybe he does because he needs a win. If he fights a top 5, in theory those guys are the best of the division, they are tougher than the ones below. Maybe the odds of him losing are higher — in his eyes, not mine.
“If he fights a top 12 it would be easier for him to get the win he needs than if he fights a top 5. What he doesn’t know is that maybe the guys from down the ranking are hungrier to move up. That hunger makes us dangerous. I’m dangerous because I’m hungry for the top. I don’t know if he will accept it or not. He has two options, but if I were him… I’d do it, but maybe if I were him I would not because he has more to lose than win.”
If not O’Malley, the other option up the rankings Oliveira suggests is Marlon Vera, and he even offers to “let him fight at his walk-around weight.”
“I’ll make weight and he can come at any weight he wants,” Oliveira said. “Easy.”
Either way, Oliveira expects a big fight next after he “puts on a show and wins fast” against Phillips at UFC 318.
“He will come do that boring game of his,” Oliveira said, “Trying to take me down or try to stand with me and realize he won’t be able to, and then he ends up knocked out faster than he expected. He knows he’s getting knocked out, right? Maybe I’ll knock him out faster than he thinks.”
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