Charles Oliveira holds many records in the UFC, including most finishes, submissions and bonuses, and he won’t change the way he fights because of three letters attached to the belt he took away from Max Holloway earlier this year.
“Do Bronx” finished his opponents in 21 of his 25 octagon victories since joining the UFC in 2010, but has faced criticism since out-grappling and dominating Max Holloway to capture the BMF title March. Yet, he won’t allow public criticism dictate strategies and influence the way he approaches his upcoming title defense against Diego Lopes at UFC 335, scheduled for Dec. 12 in Las Vegas.
“Brother, let me tell you something. God Himself couldn’t please everyone, so imagine me,” Oliveira told MMA Fighting. “You work in this business, so you can speak on it. If I go out there and trade punches and get knocked out, I’m stupid because I could have used jiu-jitsu. If I go out there and use jiu-jitsu, then it sucks. What I want to know is what’s on Sherdog. It’s right there, a win or a loss. That’s all I want to know.”
Oliveira said that being called “boring” by fans online after going the distance with Holloway is ludicrous.
“Honestly, I laugh at this kind of stuff,” Oliveira said. “Someone saying my fights are boring? Sorry, but you’d have to be pretty stupid to say something like that. Let’s talk about the BMF belt. People might want to see two guys stand in front of each other, throw bombs, and beat each other up to see who can knock the other guy out. Sure, that could happen, and it would be cool. But I’m not here to please anyone. I’m here to go out there, fight, and win.
“If I lost to Gamrot, Max, or whoever else, there’s absolutely no doubt that I wouldn’t be making the money I make, and I wouldn’t even be in the UFC. The UFC is a place where you have to keep showing up and making history, doing great things in order to move forward. You can’t just be there doing nothing. Honestly, I don’t care about this stuff. We’re not going to please everyone, you know?”
Holloway lost that night and months later entered the cage to rematch Conor McGregor in a massive UFC headliner. Meanwhile, Oliveira waited on the sidelines hoping to challenge for the lightweight gold before ultimately facing off with Lopes.
“A lot of people said, ‘If Charles had been more aggressive, maybe Charles could have gotten the kind of fight Max had with Conor,’” Oliveira said. “Would Conor even have accepted a fight with me? So, I’m going to be very truthful here. Anyone who’s a fighter or an athlete knows that nobody in the division has done to Max what I did to him. Nobody. I respect the hell out of Max, but anyone who watched the fight saw that I made Max look like nothing, both standing and on the ground. My best punches landed, my best kicks landed, and every takedown I went for, I got him down. My ground control was 100 percent. ‘Oh, but the BMF fight is about going there and breaking each other up.’ Then, honestly, brother, here’s the belt. Take it somewhere else. That belt is not for me.”
“I’m a MMA fighter,” he continued. “I’m a well-rounded fighter, both standing and on the ground. I’m going into the fight with Diego with absolutely no pressure. I’m simply going in there to bring a better version of Charles than the one who fought Gamrot, better than the one who fought Max, and so on. That’s what I want to bring every time, a fighter who’s more well-rounded in every aspect. We’re not going to box, we’re not going to fight muay Thai, we’re not going to wrestle or do jiu-jitsu. We’re going to fight MMA. What is MMA? It’s a mix of martial arts. I’m going in there to mix the martial arts. I’m going into this fight 100 percent well-rounded.”
There’s no bad blood between Oliveira and Lopes ahead of their UFC 335 clash at the T-Mobile Arena, but “do Bronx” warns the fellow Brazilian he can’t expect him to enter the cage and fight recklessly to “see who goes down first.”
“Of course, I’m not approaching this with the mindset of, ‘Let’s stop and trade punches to see who goes down first,’” Oliveira said. “No, I’m here to fight and make history. I’m not stupid. We have a huge team that’s studying Diego from every angle so we can put together a game plan for the fight. Diego has jiu-jitsu, he has wrestling, he has aggressive hands, and he can knock people out. He can do a lot of different things. But I’m definitely not worried about what Diego can do. I’m focused on what I can bring into the fight.”