The Metamoris grappling bug is catching on. Chael Sonnen’s involvement in the grappling organization’s latest event put the eyes of fans nationwide on it recently. Because of that it seems now it may be the cool thing to do for a variety of reasons. More money for fighters with no events scheduled for an extended period of time, plus it also tests a fighter’s endurance and gives them a chance to evaluate what skill level they are really at. The latest in line to toy with this option is UFC featherweight Charles Oliveira. He spoke with BloodyElbow about his UFC future before his bout against Nik Lentz, and his potential interest in competing for the Metamoris organization.
“I would surely accept an invite to compete at Metamoris. If there is no conflict with UFC, I would accept to fight there. In the UFC we have excellent grapplers. Ronaldo “Jacare” and Thiago Tavares from Brazil, for example, Jim Miller from America. If I have the green light from the UFC, for sure that I would fight.”
Oliveira is still focused solely on winning a UFC championship and he opened up about where he’s at mentally and professionally.
I always want to be well placed. I want to be one of the best fighters, face the best competitors. The division have great fighters, I don’t think that I’m far away from the best men. But my focus now is to beat Lentz. After that, I will seat with my team and see what to do. I had the objective of winning three fights this year, I’ve already won two. I’m more mature now. Before, after winning two, I wanted to fight again soon without much thinking. Everything happens in the right time and, when my time to fight for the belt comes, I will fight.
Charles is on a 2 fight win streak after losing to elite fighters Cub Swanson and Frankie Edgar. A win over Lentz may break him in to the top 10 if he wins decisively. His first fight with Lentz ended in a NC due to an illegal knee. It was the still awarded the fight of the night by the UFC, but the submission result was eventually overturned.