Outside Source
After Andre Fili hurt him with body kicks early in their bout this past Saturday, “LokDog” rallied for a second-round technical knockout victory, earning a $100,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus in the process.
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“The tactic against Fili was to use kicks to take away his base. It was working until I felt his foot when I kicked his shin. Then I felt my ribs when he hit me with two kicks,” Oliveira told Sherdog.com.
Oliveira revealed that his corner motivated him to persevere through adversity.
“They were yelling, ‘Go forward, keep attacking, you’re tough.’ At that moment, a movie played in my head,” Oliveira recalled. “In my second-to-last fight, I had a loss, and since the UFC has been firing fighters with winning records, I thought about my daughter Maitê and everything I had been through in life, and there, I decided I wasn’t going to lose. So, even in pain, breathless, I was going to keep attacking,” explained the emotional Brazilian while kissing his daughter in his lap.
“It’s something inexplicable. Only a father can understand. Everything I do today is for her well-being, to bring her more security and comfort. Today she is my greatest motivator, without saying anything, just by existing.”
Ready for Lightweight
Oliveira revealed that his body reacted surprisingly well to the new division.
“After those four fainting spells in the last fight, I really couldn’t continue at bantamweight anymore. The curious thing is that when I weighed [135 pounds] my body felt it a lot and in the gaining process I fought at [170 pounds] on fight day. In this new category, my weight went up less, I weighed [163 pounds] on fight day,” revealed the Brazilian, who hopes to face a ranked opponent in his second fight at featherweight.
“At bantamweight I was Top 12, I think I deserve at least a Top 12 at featherweight too.”
Despite being focused on reaching the belt in the new division, Oliveira made it clear that he will have no problem fighting at lightweight in emergency cases.
When Rafael Fiziev was injured three weeks before the last UFC event in Rio de Janeiro, “LokDog” offered to face Charles Oliveira in the main event before Mateusz Gamrot stepped in.
“For over 10 years I haven’t gone two days without training,” he said. “I train from Monday to Saturday and sometimes even on Sunday, but for the first time I’m going to give my body a week’s rest. But if the UFC needs me, I’ll be available to fight in the lightweight division, against anyone. The harder, the better.”
Targeting Silva
Asked about how he sees a confrontation with the current featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, “LokDog” believes he won’t face the Australian.
“Volk has already built his history and has nothing left to prove,” Oliveira said. When I reach the top, I believe he won’t be the champion anymore. I think he’ll beat Evloev, but I don’t see him beating Jean Silva, for example.”
Oliveira predicts that a matchup with the Fighting Nerds representative would be a war.
“For this fight to happen and make sense, it would have to be for the BMF featherweight belt … or if Jean had the featherweight belt when my turn came,” Oliveira said. “Jean is a tough, aggressive guy who talks a lot, just like me. There would be provocation from all sides, provocation all the time. Inside the cage, the smartest one would win, because we’re both willing to exchange punches until the end.”
Explaining Beethoven
Unlike most fighters who seek faster and more motivating rhythms in their Octagon entrances, the Brazilian always enters his fights with “Für Elise” by Beethoven.
“If I could, I would enter without any music, because my best thoughts and skills come from nothing, which is where I came from,” Oliveira said. “So the less noise there is, just the sound of my heart and my breathing, the more motivated I become. The quieter, the better. That’s one of the reasons I chose “Für Elise” by Beethoven.”
Oliveira doesn’t expect do be sidelined for too long before he is ready to return to action.
“…I want to have the exams done on both feet and my knee tomorrow. I went into this fight with a suspected meniscus injury, but it shouldn’t be anything serious,” he said. “The fact is MMA fighters have an expiration date. I’m 30 years old, I want to fight as much as I can and achieve everything by the time I’m 35. First, I want to finally get into the UFC game, I can’t wait to play with my avatar, then I want to break all the UFC records, win the belt and retire at 35 as the greatest of all time.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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