NEW YORK – Charles Oliveira took issue with the officiating at UFC 309.
Oliveira (35-10 MMA, 23-10 UFC) dominated Michael Chandler (23-9 MMA, 2-4 UFC) for the most part in their five-round co-main event Saturday at Madison Square Garden. He scored five takedowns and had almost 15 minutes of control time.
Chandler rallied late to almost finish Oliveira in Round 5, but landed repeated blows to the back of his head which referee Keith Peterson failed to acknowledge.
“You know, I’m not here to criticize, but I want to tell you something: There were a lot of blows to the back of the head, a lot of fence grabbing,” Oliveira told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter post-fight at UFC 309.
“There was also some eye pokes, and I was telling (Peterson) what was going on. I kept calling for his attention and nothing would happen. I hoped that he would intervene, but nothing happened. So I’m not here to criticize, just going to do my job.”
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Chandler was accused of being a dirty fighter by his previous opponent Dustin Poirier, who complained that Chandler was fish-hooking him before getting submitted by rear-naked choke at UFC 281.
Oliveira was able to return to the win column after rebounding from his loss to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300. He called for a title shot against the winner of the expected title-fight rematch between lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.
