Charles 'Do Bronx' Oliveira: The Renaissance Man

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Lai

December 2nd, 2017. Detroit, Michigan.

Yancy Medeiros and Alex Oliveira just had one of the craziest fights in UFC welterweight history. It was a back and forth brawl with many momentum shifts that saw neither of these warriors give up, until Alex Oliveira’s body could not take it anymore. The next bout of the night involved the better Brazilian Oliveira, fighting for the second time in a row at lightweight (after years of barely making 146 lbs; Charles missed weight 4 times in the UFC). His opponent was Paul Felder, who was on a two-fight win streak and seems to finally have reached his prime.

‘Do Bronx’ won the Performance of the Night when he defeated the former Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks inside 150 seconds, with ease. In this short fight, he showed that he was deceptively strong and he could play a big role in that lightweight division. Becoming the first man to submit Paul Felder would be another big statement.

It only took a few seconds for Charles to slam Felder like a small featherweight, rather than a man walking closer to 180 lbs on fight night. The D’arce choke was set up, and Felder was in a terrible position with potentially four minutes left enduring the squeeze of Do Bronx. However, what looked to be another quick payday for Charles was going to be tested by the unstoppable will of the Irish Dragon. Felder never gave up, he rolled around through positions and did everything in his power to survive that choke. Felder made some risky decisions that made the choke even tighter, but he fought like a beautiful demon, and the illegal knee he took in the face didn’t change one thing, he kept fighting. Inspiring stuff.

What was not inspiring, but very concerning, was Charles ‘Do Bronx’ letting his grip go, despite still being in perfect position to end that fight at any second. The Brazilian was good enough on the ground that he took Paul’s back twenty seconds later and began working for the rear naked choke, but Felder stayed disciplined and focused, finally exploding and throwing Oliveira off of him. Felder was now on top, blasting punches when the round ended.

The fight hit the ground very quickly in the second round. For a few minutes the two appeared to be going about even, until Felder got back to his feet and landed a short elbow in the clinch that hurt Charles, then a second that dropped him. Felder doesn’t waste a second and lets it rain. Oliveira managed to go for a leg lock, which Felder escaped. He now had the choice to either get back up or to enter the guard of the Brazilian. Felder was game, and decided to take advantage of his position to blast Oliveira with a series of big elbows, until the referee stopped the fight. Wow, that was nasty…

The replay actually showed that after the first short elbow, Charles tapped out on Felder’s shoulder, and then continued to take the biggest shots of the flurry until Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight. What a victory for the Irish Dragon, but once again, Charles mentally broke and quit. In a way he did it twice in that fight, the first time he lost that mental game when Felder outlasted him in the D’arce choke, then again when he asked to exit the contest.

On paper, losing by TKO (or tapping to strikes) under a series of elbows from Paul Felder is nothing worrying. Felder’s top game is nasty, and his elbows are deadly, but Charles tapped as soon as the first one landed, as if he understood he was in a bad position, was likely already frustrated he didn’t get that choke earlier, and decided he will be defeated now. After that fight, everyone came to the conclusion that after seven years in the UFC, ‘Do Bronx’ would never be a real contender. He’d stay a fun front-runner action fighter who wins one then loses one. A fantastic finisher, but nothing else. This fight was the proof that he doesn’t have what it takes to be among the elite of either division.

Charles struggles mentally when things don’t go his way, and he often doesn’t have a plan B. So what was next for the talented Brazilian? Did he want to finally change, or keep dreaming of one day somehow choking another big name and getting a shot at the elite?

Well, the man and his team actually did it right. They made adjustments and came back stronger than ever, and that’s why he’s fighting another top lightweight this Saturday in Brasilia. This fight is the ultimate answer we need from a man who built himself back up like almost nobody ever has in MMA, like nobody has ever tried to do in the UFC.

“All I need is one more fight, one punch, one KO” - MMA fighters.

UFC matchmaking is brutal. They never seem to care about revitalizing a struggling fighter’s career. They focus on “names vs. names”. The boxing fans who read this know what I’m talking about, and we can pick an example from only two years ago. After months of self destruction, Tyson Fury decides to lose god knows what amount of weight and to clean his act up, in order to recapture his position as the best heavyweight on the planet. What was his first fight for the return? Sefer Seferi. You don’t know who he is, can’t blame you. His second opponent is a little more well known, Francisco Pianeta (fought Wladimir Klitschko). Then, finally after that, he faced the champion, Deontay Wilder.

If the UFC, Tyson Fury’s trash talk and name value would have allowed him to fight the champion right away for his comeback fight. This is a real problem, because of this system, too many fighters/teams decide to fight for their ranking spot instead of improving. I’m curious to see who TJ Dillashaw will fight when he comes back.

Will he say “I was the champ when I got suspended, so I want to fight for the belt or a #1 contender fight”? Probably.

Should he say, “I was out for two years, got some surgery done, but I’m still probably a bit rusty and the division moved on, why not fight (insert stylistically favorable #7-15 ranked BW fighter)”? YES.

I can add Chris Weidman and Cody Garbrandt to that conversation. Despite suffering an insane amount of damage through fights and injuries, they both kept taking bouts against the highest level opponents available, and when they picked one lower ranked opponent, they picked the wrong one (Mousasi for Weidman, Munhoz for Cody). But more importantly, Cody and Chris didn’t change one thing in their game, never corrected their obvious technical and mental flaws. They just fought in order to save or improve the number next to their name.

People always answer with, “What if you take on someone nobody knows and then lose?” First, nobody is asking a former champion or a contender to fight “a nobody”. This notion of name value has no place there. We’re asking them to fight an easy matchup, and to answer the question at hand. If the fighter loses to that lower quality opponent, that will tell you how much work you have on your hands.

There isn’t a dumber expression in the fight game than, “Win or learn”. It should be, “Learn always”.

Getting better should always be the main goal for fighters, but no, they have this short term vision and deluded confidence that eventually leads them to a very violent and difficult exit from the fight game. Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira, did not do any of that. He did it right. Like you’re supposed to do.

THE RENAISSANCE

The first important thing Oliveira and his team did was to go straight back to training. Don’t take (too much) time off for your fighter to get out of shape, physically and mentally.

The second thing they did right was waiting for the right matchup. Losing to Felder wasn’t the issue, it’s the way he lost. This could be a career killer. How do you find your confidence again? That’s the most important step, in my opinion. Before improving, correcting the skills, working on his mental game, just give your killer some prey so that he can at least feel a little better about himself and his skill set.

It’s a new moment in my life and my career. The secret for the change is never stop training and surround yourself with people that love you. I haven’t stopped training since my loss to Paul Felder. It’s a new era, a new Charles.” - Do Bronx.

So, Oliveira and his team waited until they found that prey. When Bobby Green pulled out of his fight with Clay Guida at UFC 225, they pounced. Clay is/was a strong wrestler, but his entries are wild and predictable. His striking is very easy to counter and he’s not a big lightweight. What were the chance that Clay made Charles look good on the feet before shooting a sloppy takedown, ending up with his neck wrapped between Charles hands? Very high, I know.

Charles defeated Clay Guida via guillotine choke inside 150 seconds. In the cage, he asked the UFC two things - to be on the Sao Paulo card three months later, and to fight at “146”. The first request made all the sense in the world, as Oliveira lives in Sao Paulo and has been training forever at Chute Boxe Diego Lima. The second request, the featherweight move, was (rightfully) denied by the UFC.

Sao Paulo, Lightweight.

Christos Giagos made his return to the UFC after a few years fighting in smaller promotion around the world. He’s not a dangerous opponent, and the skill difference between him and Charles was immense, but he’s tough and could make the fight last quite a while if he wasn’t finished early. His striking is serviceable, at the very least he’s a wrestler with fast hands. Not many people were looking to fight Charles at home anyway, so they took that fight.

Oliveira opened the fight pressuring with his high guard, using leg kicks at range, but it was Giagos who found the most success early with his body shots and right hook. Giagos’ jabs even gave Charles a bloody nose. After three minutes, Charles finally attempted to close the distance, but his shot was stopped by Giagos. The fight was not going Charles’ way so far.

But, with a minute left, he timed a double leg under Giagos’ right hook. It took 11 seconds for Do Bronx to get to full mount. However, Christos Giagos got to his underhooks, then put both hands on Charles’ hips and exploded to escape the position.

Round 1 was over, and it belonged to Giagos. A bloodied Oliveira had no success on the feet, and little on the ground, but he stayed persistent. Giagos exposed Oliveira’s striking to be rather dull if you mix your attack and stay composed.

Realizing the way things were trending, Oliveira made it a brawl. He opened round 2 with a series of spinning backfists, and put much more pressure on the American. Chute boxe style. Compared to round 1, Giagos appeared to be far less composed now that Oliveira was growing more aggressive and wild. To that point, instead of staying collected and looking for counters, Giagos started to brawl at times with Do Bronx, which created openings for a bloody Oliveira to shoot his double once again under a right hand. This time he didn’t let Giagos get the underhooks and stayed in half guard until Giagos tried to stand up…

Half a second later, Charles had his back and rolled through while locking in the rear naked choke. Immediate tap. Beautiful. History will remember that, on this night Oliveira surpassed Royce Gracie to become the man with the most submission victories in the UFC. But what really matters here is that for the first time in a long time, Oliveira had a plan B, and didn’t get frustrated when he had little to no success earlier in the fight.

The Miller Test.

“Jim Miller is an important fight for me,” Oliveira said. “It’s just like any other fight, but it’s important for me because Jim Miller was the first guy to defeat me. I think Jim Miller has evolved, but I’ve evolved 10 times more than him. I’m better than him on the feet, I’m better than him on the ground. I get 10 times better every time I fight. I think I will silence the world once again, I will surprise the world.”

Charles Oliveira defeated Jim Miller in 75 seconds when he slammed him to the ground and then sunk in the rear naked choke. One year after that sad disappointing night in Detroit, Charles Oliveira’s confidence is back and as high as it ever was before. Now it was time for the real test.

THE CONFIRMATION

David Teymur is a very skilled lightweight with an impressive striking background. When he fought Charles he was on a eight-fight win streak. In the UFC he beat Lando Vannata, Drakkar Klose and Nik Lentz. The level of competition was now a bit higher than Oliveira’s previous few fights. It was a great opportunity for Oliveira to test himself, especially on the feet.

The fight started with the Swedish southpaw kicking Oliveira before eye poking him. It was deep. Oliveira struggled to open his eye for a few minutes. The referee took one point away from Teymur. After three minutes, Oliveira said he was ready, even though it didn’t look like his vision had fully returned. A second eye poke awakened Charles Oliveira, who pressured heavily and screamed at Teymur to stop circling and fight.

The pace shot up dramatically, and both men were hand fighting persistently in order to throw that big rear hand shot. Charles came close to landing some serious shots on Teymur, but felt short a few times. David Teymur, however, was accurate. As Charles went for a knee to the body, the Swede landed a beautiful left hand that floored the Brazilian. Charles was rocked and on his back, Teymur joined him on the ground, hoping to finish him. Much to his dismay, he was welcomed by a beautiful series of elbows from Oliveira’s back that opened a cut. The fight got back on the feet.

I’ve watched this fight many times, and it truly feels like a different Charles Oliveira. Don’t get me wrong, Charles has been in some tough fights even before fought Felder, but he never answered like this.

Once he was back on his feet, Oliveira put a beating on Teymur. Perhaps the double eye poke and the embarrassment of being dropped made Oliveira decide to toughen up and brawl until he went down. There was no quit in him that night.

He pressured well, and this time, he fought someone who stayed composed. Teymur fought well on the backfoot, but Oliveira mixed it up, bringing the fight to the ground beautifully. Oliveira looked to attack the legs, taking some punishment for his efforts. He found success with flying knees, and dirty boxing, roughing up Teymur in tight.

After a wild round 1, Charles went back to his corner and voiced concern about his vision. This also explains why he came at Teymur so aggressively. He knew it might be only a matter of time before he could not see out of that eye. Instead of taking the easy way out after the two eye pokes and the knockdown, which came on the side he was poked, he came back strong. Oliveira went back out and beat up Teymur so bad that he turned his back. After one final flurry, Oliveira sunk in the anaconda. This Charles Oliveira is scary.

Repetitions before a big fight.

After this outstanding, gutsy performance Charles was looking for a big fight. However, it seemed that nobody wanted to fight him. He was too low in the rankings, placed at #15. So, instead of waiting and complaining, Charles took two fights against lesser competition and showed off some significant improvements in the striking department. He checked kicks, slipped and countered, pivoted, worked a left hook to the body. He made easy work of Nik Lentz (again), and subsequently destroyed Jared Gordon.

In the cage, he called out Conor McGregor (for the second time), which was ridiculous, but it made me laugh. His second call-out, however, convinced me fully that Charles Oliveira was not the same fighter he was seven fights ago. He asked for Paul Felder.

Six wins and six finishes later, Charles is now in his prime. He’s never looked in a better place physically or mentally. He finally has his big fight Saturday, as he face Kevin Lee in the main event of UFC Brasilia. Both men actually have a lot of questions to answer and suspicions to confirm. Win or lose, what I hope to see from Charles is that he brings out all of the improvements he’s shown us, and more importantly, that he passes to the step in his career. Beating Kevin Lee would be a massive statement.

Regardless of what happens Saturday night in Brasilia, Do Bronx and his team did it the right way. They went from an extremely low point to the highest level of his career, focusing on improving. It took only two years for Charles Oliveira to become that greatest version of himself. Hopefully his success doesn’t stop here. I hope Charles Oliveira will be one shining example to remember of how to relaunch a fighter’s career.