Vinicius Oliveira reignited his feud with Umar Nurmagomedov following his win over Ricky Simon at UFC 303.
Oliveira won a unanimous decision over Simon at UFC 303 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “The Rock Dog” then demanded a fight with Nurmagomedov, but doesn’t think the Dagestan native will accept.
Oliveira and Nurmagomedov previously exchanged harsh words via Instagram direct messages following the Brazilian’s UFC debut in March. Both fighters claimed they could beat each other in a street fight and expressed interest in a potential matchup. However, Oliveira believes Nurmagomedov will be afraid to fight him after his recent performance against Simon. Oliveira displayed excellent takedown defense against Simon, a skilled grappler. Anticipating Nurmagomedov to avoid him, Oliveira called for a matchup against Dominick Cruz.
“I want to fight Umar Nurmagomedov. He is [using] Some people say bad things about him on Instagram and other social media, but he [is] “He’s scared of me right now,” Oliviera said in the post-match media scrum. “I’m sure he watched my last match here and he knows it’s not easy to beat me. And [at that] At that exact moment, he would have a nightmare with me, so I think he would refuse to fight me for the first time. So I want to fight Dominick Cruz. Maybe, I don’t know.”
Vinicius Oliveira shared his Instagram DMs following his win against Umar Nurmagomedov.
#UFCVegas87.👀
Are you interested in this fight? pic.twitter.com/ZiTgxsvP4m
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit)
March 5, 2024
Nurmagomedov is currently scheduled to face Cory Sandhagen (17-4) in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi on August 3. The winner of this high-level matchup is expected to play a key role in the title race, but Oliveira believes Nurmagomedov will continue to elude him regardless of the outcome of this fight.
“I know that, but I think he was running away. [from] He can do it to me
[lose] This fight. He’ll keep running away. [from] “He can win, he’ll keep running away,” Oliveira said. [from] “Beat me, for they dare not fight me, that’s for sure. Take my word for it, if I fight this man he won’t be able to beat me, I will beat him.”
Oliveira’s second win came on Saturday, when he knocked out Bernardo Sopay with a flying knee in his UFC debut. Simon, meanwhile, has lost three straight.
