Oliveira: if Gaethje retires, he and Tsarukyan should fight for the vacant title

Charles Oliveira says the UFC needs an answer from lightweight champion Justin Gaethje before anything else. He said so in interviews with Sherdog and MMA Fighting published on Wednesday, October 14. If Gaethje retires, he wants to fight Arman Tsarukyan for the vacant belt.

"The first step is for the UFC to sit down with Gaethje and find out exactly what he plans to do," Oliveira told Sherdog. He laid out the two paths:

"If he doesn't retire, it could be Arman or me against Gaethje. If he retires, then it's me and Arman fighting for the vacant title."

That is Oliveira's view, not a UFC plan. The title isn't vacant, and as of Thursday neither Gaethje nor the UFC had responded.

Where Gaethje stands

Gaethje, 37, won the vacant interim belt by outpointing Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 in January. On June 14 he unified the title at UFC Freedom 250 on the White House South Lawn. Ilia Topuria's corner stopped the fight after the fourth round.

He has since ruled out fighting again in 2026 and hasn't decided whether to retire. "I do not feel like I have anything left to prove," he said on Andrew Schulz's Flagrant podcast, as reported by SB Nation on September 24. On the same show he named Tsarukyan as his opponent "if and when I defend," according to EssentiallySports.

His manager, Ali Abdelaziz, says Gaethje will keep fighting in 2027, according to SportBible. Gaethje himself hasn't said so. Oliveira also claimed Gaethje would fight this year only against Conor McGregor; we found no words from Gaethje to that effect.

Oliveira's pitch

Speaking to MMA Fighting, Oliveira granted that Tsarukyan "is there to fight for the title." Then he made his own case: "I think I sell a lot more than Arman." He added that beating Diego Lopes would make him "next in line, regardless of whether Gaethje comes back or not."

He also said Gaethje "is not going to make more money in his next fight than he made at the White House." He claimed fighters on that card who "were making 100 before were making 500." The purses weren't published, so that figure is his claim.

Both men have history with Oliveira. He submitted Gaethje in the first round at UFC 274 in May 2022. Tsarukyan beat him by split decision at UFC 300 in April 2024, closing at −200 with Oliveira at +165, per our page. Tsarukyan is 24-3 and has won six straight, most recently a first-round knockout of Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331 on September 19.

Oliveira (37-11, 1 NC) beat Max Holloway for the BMF title in March. In his 11 fights with closing odds since mid-2020, he is 8-3 and up 3.97 units, per his page. Gaethje has beaten the market by more: +7.35 units over nine such fights, including wins at +350 over Topuria and +200 over Pimblett, per his page.

We think Tsarukyan has the stronger claim on merit: he holds the win over Oliveira and the longer streak. But the UFC has twice handed Oliveira a vacant-title fight. After Khabib Nurmagomedov retired, Oliveira won the belt against Michael Chandler at UFC 262. In 2025 it picked him over Tsarukyan for the vacant belt at UFC 317. Tsarukyan, who had pulled out of his UFC 311 title fight a day before the event, was only the backup.

What's next

Oliveira defends the BMF title against Lopes (28-8) in the UFC 335 main event on December 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The UFC announced the fight on October 3, per Cageside Press. Lopes is a featherweight moving up. Oliveira is about a 57% favourite, with a best current price of −147 at DraftKings, per our fight page. That price can still move before fight week.

Tsarukyan's next match isn't MMA. He wrestles Dillon Danis under freestyle rules at RAF 14 in Las Vegas on October 23, according to MMA Junkie. Gaethje has set no date for his decision.