{"id":501488,"date":"2026-02-26T19:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501488\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T19:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:57:08","slug":"charles-oliveira-hits-back-at-doubters-ahead-of-ufc-326-showdown-the-lion-is-still-hungry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501488\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Oliveira Hits Back At Doubters Ahead of UFC 326 Showdown: &#8216;The Lion Is Still Hungry&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmanews.com\/tag\/charles-oliveira\" class=\"tag-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Charles Oliveira<\/a> has a message for anyone who questions whether he still has the drive to compete at the highest level.<\/p>\n<p>Oliveira is set to challenge reigning BMF champion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmanews.com\/tag\/max-holloway\" class=\"tag-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Max Holloway<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmanews.com\/tag\/ufc-326-2\" class=\"tag-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC 326<\/a> main event on March 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into the matchup, a lingering narrative has followed Oliveira since his knockout loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 317 in June 2025. UFC legend Frankie Edgar and other pundits <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmanews.com\/article\/edgar-questions-oliveira-hunger-holloway-ufc-326\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">have questioned <\/a>whether the former lightweight champion still has the same hunger that once drove him to title glory.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with MMA Junkie\u2019s Mike Bohn ahead of his UFC 326, \u201cDo Bronxs\u201d reflected on his comeback submission win over Mateusz Gamrot at UFC Rio last October. <\/p>\n<p>Oliveira insisted the performance was meant to answer his critics, proving he is still at the top of his game and carries the same fire that fueled his earlier success.<\/p>\n<p>I sent a message to the division and to everyone: The lion is still hungry. That&#8217;s real. I&#8217;m ready for whatever comes. I&#8217;m ready. There are still a lot of things to happen. I&#8217;m still going to become champion again&#8230; Everything is 100%. I&#8217;m happy. I&#8217;m just living for the day.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"YouTube video player\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"object-cover group-hover:opacity-90 transition-opacity duration-200 ease-out\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;will-change:opacity\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772135828_880_image.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The 36-year-old Sao Paulo native heads into the fight with a 36\u201311 record, holding the UFC records for most submission wins and post-fight bonuses. He has gone 3\u20133 in his last six outings but believes his career momentum is still moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>The BMF clash with Holloway is also a rematch. The two first met at UFC Saskatoon in August 2015, when \u201cBlessed\u201d scored a TKO at 1:39 of the opening round after Oliveira was unable to continue following a collapse. Reports later suggested the issue was a torn esophagus.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"YouTube video player\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"object-cover group-hover:opacity-90 transition-opacity duration-200 ease-out\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;will-change:opacity\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772135828_820_image.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charles Oliveira has a message for anyone who questions whether he still has the drive to compete at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[24588,49,48,15503,641,1698,638,82,152204],"class_list":{"0":"post-501488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-bmf-title","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-charles-oliveira","12":"tag-fighting","13":"tag-max-holloway","14":"tag-mma","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-ufc-326"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}