'A champion's mentality': How a resilient Charles Oliveira made it to the top
LAS VEGAS — Charles Oliveira’s career can be defined by one word: Resiliency.
His lightweight-title winning effort over Michael Chandler at UFC 262 in Houston in May might be a microcosm of his entire career: He was winning. He was losing. He was winning again. Then he was losing and in real trouble.
On and on it went, until he wound up knocking out Chandler with strikes 19 seconds into the second round to become the successor to Khabib Nurmagomedov as the UFC’s undisputed lightweight champion.
That Oliveira found a way to win despite the adversity he faced numerous times from an opponent like Chandler speaks to the life he has led. He grew up in a favela in Brazil, the son of an illiterate mother who held down two jobs, just as her husband, Charles’ father, did.
He never longed for anything to eat, but he wore passed-down clothes and always had to fight for everything he got.
“The one thing I know at this point,” he said, “is that nobody will hit me harder in the Octagon than life has hit me.”
Winning the championship has changed Oliveira’s life. There are more sponsors, more fans, more money and more demands.
On Saturday, he’ll face Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 269 at T-Mobile Arena in the first defense of his belt. He’s an underdog at BetMGM, with Poirier at -160 and Oliveira at +135.
Oliveira, who is 10 months younger than Poirier and joined the UFC eight months after he did, is hardly fazed. This is a guy who has the most submissions in UFC history as well as the most finishes.
He’s had his ups and downs, but he’s never wavered, even for a minute. Even in his darkest times, when he lost three of four and was having problems making weight, he believed that eventually, he’d make it to the top.
“There is a champion’s mentality, and I have had that for a long time,” Oliveira said. “I knew the wins would come. I knew I would get to [the top]. It’s a matter of timing and getting the right fights at the right time.”
Oliveira has won nine in a row in the UFC, and only 11 men have ever won 10 or more in succession. Their names are among the most familiar in the sport, among the best of the best of the best.
Jon Jones, whose 17-fight winning streak is the longest in UFC history, was for years regarded as the pound-for-pound best in the world and he’s only not ranked now because he’s been inactive. Jones surpassed Anderson Silva, who had won 16 in a row and was No. 1 pound-for-pound prior to Jones.
Welterweight champion — and current pound-for-pound king — Kamaru Usman has won 15 in a row. The legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov headlines a group at 13 that includes Georges St-Pierre, Demetrious Johnson and Max Holloway.
That’s the company that Oliveira finds himself in, and he doesn’t feel out of place.
“When you look at Oliveira, he’s got the record for most finishes,” UFC president Dana White said. “He’s got the record for most submission wins, performance of the night bonuses. … He’s finished 17 fighters, 14 [submissions], 11 Performance of the Night bonuses, post-fight bonuses he’s got 17. The guy’s been there and he’s been exciting for a long time and he’s been fighting absolute studs. Twenty-eight of his 31 wins over come by finish. He has a 90 percent finish rate.
“It just took longer for people to notice him than it did with Poirier. He had a couple of issues with weight and it just took him a little bit longer. It happens with some guys.”
Oliveira has been everywhere with his belt, beaming from ear to ear and soaking in the attention from fans and media since he’s captured the belt.
Many fighters will insist they don’t watch their previous fights. Not Oliveira. Ask him if he watched his win over Chandler and he’s astonished at the question.
“I’ve probably watched it a thousand times,” he said. “Fans will show it to me and it makes me smile every time I see it. When I watch it, it’s almost like I’m watching it for the first time. And I’m just so grateful for what that win has done for me and for my family. It has changed my life in so many ways.”
He needs to defeat Poirier to be fully accepted, though. There are those who still doubt him and believe he wouldn’t have won the title that became vacant when Nurmagomedov retired had the UFC given the shot to Justin Gaethje rather than Chandler.
That’s anybody’s guess, but Oliveira’s attitude is on point. His faith, he said, has given him the ability to weather the hard times and enjoy the good times humbly.
“I love what I do and because I love this, I think I’m better at it,” he said. “And I get to prove people wrong. If people doubt me, that’s fine. It’s their opinion. But I have the final say in what happens in there.”
