{"id":57579,"date":"2025-08-10T12:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T12:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/57579\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T12:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T12:08:12","slug":"charles-oliveira-eyes-ufc-rio-dismisses-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/57579\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Oliveira Eyes UFC Rio dismisses concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDo Bronx\u201d is no stranger to defying the odds<\/a>, but his latest gamble has the mixed martial arts (MMA) world on edge.<\/p>\n

Just six weeks after a vicious knockout loss<\/a> to Ilia Topuria at UFC 317<\/a>, former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight champion Charles Oliveira is set to headline UFC Rio<\/a> against Rafael Fiziev on Oct. 11 at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. That\u2019s a mere 105 days since getting flatlined (watch it<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But the Brazilian star isn\u2019t fazed.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, I\u2019d never been knocked out before; it was the first time,\u201d Oliveira recently told Ag.Fight<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ll only know when I get back, and I wanted to get back as soon as possible, so we\u2019re here. When the [UFC 317] fight ended, they asked me to stay two extra days, so I stayed and did all the tests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything\u2019s fine, I\u2019m ready,\u201d Oliveira added. \u201cThey asked me to stay for two more days, and I came back feeling good. Nothing was wrong, I\u2019m cleared, and I wanted to get back as soon as possible, and that\u2019s what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Oliveira\u2019s confidence is nice to hear, the stakes are sky-high. A loss could seriously derail his path back to Lightweight prominence, and skeptics are quick to point out the parallels to Volkanovski\u2019s ill-fated quick return.<\/p>\n

Still, for \u201cDo Bronx,\u201d this fight is personal\u2014it\u2019s a homecoming to Brazil, where he hasn\u2019t fought in front of fans since 2019. (His 2020 Bras\u00edlia bou<\/a>t was a fanless COVID-era card.)<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many people who don\u2019t have visas or the means to go to the United States to watch me, it\u2019s been a long time since I fought in Brazil<\/a>,\u201d Oliveira said. \u201cMany people who want to watch me but don\u2019t have the financial means, don\u2019t even have visas or passports to try to do so. They\u2019ll be able to watch me fight now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said: \u2019The favela will show up<\/a>\u2019 and this time, for real, the favela will come down. At the press conference and the weigh-in, the Brazilian people will be there, chanting my name, cheering for us, sending that positive energy. And on fight day, that\u2019s what it will be,\u201d Oliveira concluded. \u201cSo, I\u2019m very motivated and very happy. I\u2019ve wanted to fight in Brazil for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether this is a triumphant return or a risky misstep for the UFC legend remains to be seen. For now, Oliveira is all-in, ready to silence the doubters and electrify Rio. As he puts it, the favela\u2019s got his back<\/a>\u2014so bring it on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDo Bronx\u201d is no stranger to defying the odds, but his latest gamble has the mixed martial arts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396,14855],"class_list":["post-57579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news","tag-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}