Charles Oliveira is raring to go ahead of what is arguably the biggest fight of his long MMA career so far. However, he will have to take on Tony Ferguson at UFC 256 without his head coach Diego Lima in his corner.
Lima tested positive for the coronavirus in Sao Paulo, Brazil days before he was due to fly to Las Vegas for the event.
“As I was without symptoms and at the same time excited for the fight that we asked for so much, we can’t believe it when something like this happens,” Lima said in Portuguese in an interview with UFC.com. “I even did other tests, but they ended up positive, too, so there was no other way out.”
According to MMA Junkie, Oliveira will only have two coaches in his corner on Saturday night – Jorge Patino and Gia Santos.
The Brazilian is on a seven-fight win streak, defeating the likes of Kevin Lee, Jared Gordon, Nik Lentz, and Jim Miller in that run. A win over Ferguson would see him enter the UFC lightweight title picture for the first time after 10 years with the promotion.
This fight is the co-main event at UFC 256. The event will be headlined by a flyweight championship contest between Oliveira’s compatriot Deiveson Figueiredo and Mexican challenger Brandon Moreno.