There was a time when he was Brazilian Charles Oliveira Referee inside the UFC. The São Paulo-born fighter managed to secure the lightweight champion belt (70.3 kg) in 2021, and even defended his throne. … Successfully. Then the tables turned, and he was stripped of the title due to a weight loss issue, and he ended up failing on the two occasions he had the option to regain it, against Islam Makhachev and last summer against Ilya Topuria.
Oliveira, who is the current submission king in the UFC with 17 wins this way, recently spoke about this latest defeat to the Georgian Spaniard. “I was stupid. The man is shorter than me, and he is a boxer. I should have stayed back, kicked him, forced him forward and then tried to clear him. These are the things that happen. It’s part of the fight. “I’m back stronger,” he explained during his “master class” at the Brazilian gym. Be humble and learn from mistakes.
The truth is that he came back stronger, and despite the setback against Topuria, he has been recovering for several weeks in his native country, Brazil, specifically in Rio de Janeiro. There he starred in the main fight against Poland Mateusz Jamrot and earned a victory in the first round by submission. A few days before this victory, he spoke with ABC to analyze what will happen to him.
“Every time we win we take a step forward, I think winning on Saturday and winning another fight at the beginning of next year will put me back in the title. I think my next fight might be at BMF (the champion is Max Holloway) If I win this, but everything in the UFC can change. Everyone wants to see that fight against Max. “Why not in January, February or March,” Oliveira said. He complied and won his fight and now everything indicates that he will fight for BMF against Max Holloway.
This, precisely, is the way to seek his “revenge” against Ilya Topuria, because if he achieves a victory over Holloway, he will once again take a position as a real contender within the UFC lightweight championship. Although to be honest, the Matador still has many challenges ahead of him, such as defending his title against Buddy Pimblett, things can always change within the UFC and the chance of them meeting again is remote.
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