“This is my first time doing five rounds, so my memories of him getting ready for those five-round fights, those title fights, I’ve implemented that into my camp. It’s a lot of work — think Merab (Dvalishvili) style, Dominick Cruz style; all of these hard workers putting in round after round.
“No one has naturally that style in the gym, but my training partners are such great guys and are giving me the best looks they can, which has been great and I’m grateful to them for that,” continued the Top 10 bantamweight when asked about preparing for the aggressive Oliveira, who brings a more “hands down, swing heavy” approach. “It’s been fun, and if you turn it up a little bit, you start catching them while they’re doing that style, they’ll slowly revert back to keeping their hands up where they’re supposed to be.
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“I think he brings it every time,” he added, offering a quick assessment of his Brazilian foe. “He’s a great pressure fighter — very wild, unpredictable — but I see a lot of openings, I see a lot of mistakes, and I think over the course of a five-round fight, those mistakes will get bigger and bigger and leave me with some opportunities to possibly get that finish or break him down over time.”
For Bautista, the timing of this weekend’s return to action couldn’t be better, as there have already been a pair of critical top 10 matchups taking place this year, including Nurmagomedov picking up another victory, with three more bantamweight pairings set to hit the Octagon on Saturday before he and Oliveira close out the show.
