Charles Oliveira believes he will once again become the UFC lightweight champion once UFC 280 is in the books.
‘Do Bronx’ will step back into the Octagon on October 22nd against No. 4 ranked contender Islam Makhachev as the two men headline an absolutely stacked card airing live from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Oliveira enters the bout as a +155 underdog versus Makhachev who walks in as the -180 favorite.
Despite what the oddsmakers believe, Charles Oliveira is walking into the lightweight title clash with a load of confidence and is ready to shock the world once again.
“I’m going to shock the world yet again… Well, opinions are subjective and some people believe that I would be a potential winner, he would be a potential winner,” Oliveira said in an interview with ESPN. “But I’m gonna show that my history, my background, the number of fights I’ve had, my contenders, these will come to show on that very night. In this sense, I’ll shock the world because people will change their opinion about this.”
Charles Oliveira is used to the underdog role
Charles Oliveira has not experienced defeat in more than four years. With 11 straight wins and the most submission in UFC history, it’s almost ludicrous to call ‘Do Bronx’ an underdog in any bout he walks into, but time and time again, that is exactly where the Brazilian submission specialist finds himself.
In his previous two outings, Oliveira was the underdog and yet emerged victorious with back-to-back submission victories. At UFC 269, ‘Do Bronx’ walked into a world title fight as the reigning champion and was listed as a +145 underdog per Best Fight Odds. Prior to that, Charles Oliveira entered his bout with fan favorite Tony Ferguson at UFC 256 as a +110 favorite.
The moral of the story is, when ‘Do Bronx’ is listed as an underdog is when he appears to perform the best. Of course, Oliveira has never faced a wrestler quite like Islam Makhachev.
