Charles Oliveira is no stranger to being target of trash talk in MMA so he’s fine with everything Ilia Topuria has said leading up to their lightweight championship bout at UFC 317 in Las Vegas.
“Do Bronx”, who will attempt to regain the 155-pound belt when he faces the former featherweight titleholder on June 28, heard previous opponent call him a quitter, other say he can’t take a punch, and persevered to build a legendary career in the UFC with 20 finishes in 23 octagon victories, plus a record 20 bonuses in the company.
Since the Topuria match was officially announced for International Fight Week, Topuria has asked fans to choose the method he would stop Oliveira at T-Mobile Arena, and even told Oliveira to “don’t forget to bring the pillow” to UFC 317.
“I don’t like to talk about it because everything we say becomes noise, but I think we’re past that already, right?” Oliveira told MMA Fighting. “It’s 15 years in the UFC. I was just a kid when I first went in there. Everything I say has a meaning, right? ‘I’m just a kid among the lions, and now I feel a lion among the lions. A different lion, a bad lion.’
“Back then, when they thought I was better than them, they said something thinking it would get in my head. And I had a team by my side. The last one [said] ‘Charles quits’, and I went there and ran over him. ‘Charles has no hands,’ I went there and knocked him out. ‘Charles this and that,’ I went there and got it done. So many crazy things.”
Oliveira made his UFC debut in 2010, back when he was 12-0 as a pro, and made short work of Darren Elkins with a 41-second submission. He said trash talk wouldn’t affect him at the time, but he’s always felt it was “unnecessary” to treat a fellow athlete with disrespect. In the end, then and now, it only makes him more motivated to win.
“If the idea is to keep talking and wondering if they will get in my head, man… I see that and just laugh, you know?” Oliveira said. “These are just so [irrelevant] that while they talk, I’m training, I’m dedicating. You know me, I’m not the type of guy that has to keep posting, that has to keep talking. I know what I have to do. The fight is on the 28th, so I have to stay focused and ready. I know what I have to do. I have two week to make it happen. I just have to stay happy, close to the people I love, and training and dedicating.”
Oliveira vs. Topuria will headline the International Fight Week card in Las Vegas, one of the biggest events of the year, and “do Bronx” doesn’t care if being more vocal would help promote the show — and earn him more money.
“I don’t know how to do that, to talk like that,” Oliveira said. “I don’t know how to sell a fight like that. It’s not my way of promoting. So let me make the money I’m making because that’s the only way I know how to do it. When the cage closes, I know what I have to do: walk forward, land my hands and in the end — what matters the most — have my hand raised.”
Topuria fought once as a lightweight in the UFC, stopping Jai Herbert by second-round knockout before wins over Bryce Mitchell and Josh Emmett earned him a title shot at Alexander Volkanovski. He returns to 155 pounds following historic knockouts over “The Great” and Max Holloway, but Oliveira knows from experience that adding extra 10 pounds and adapting to a new weight class is far from easy.
Oliveira started his UFC career as a lightweight and struggled to hit the 145 limit for years before being forced to go back to 155 pounds for good. The Brazilian talent was scoring big wins at lightweight but still voicing his interest in going back down, and wonders how Topuria will do changing divisions without a longer preparation, balancing the idea of not adding too much weight in order to have an easier weight cut, or bulk up and be stronger.
“It has taken me a bit to understand this, especially because you know I didn’t want to go back to the [lightweight] division,” Oliveira said. “When I went [to 155] I felt the difference in punching power, grappling and strength until I understood and moved up for good. I was talking yesterday [about maybe] going to 170. The first fight is fine, and then the second. After that, you’ve already gained weight and have more to cut because you want to get stronger, too. I think it varies from person to person, but I think it’s a bit complicated.”
Oliveira will have a huge height and reach advantage over Topuria and knows it will help him, but won’t count that as a key factor in the fight because “MMA is very unpredictable.” When asked how he expects to get the job done at UFC 317, he keeps his cards close to his chest.
“We walks forward all the time, and so do I,” Oliveira said. “I have a gigantic firepower in my hands, as he also hits hard. We see this fight as two guys that only walk forward. I have my jiu-jitsu, he also has his [grappling]. He’s asking fans to choose how it’s going to be, that he can either knock me out or submit me, so he’s that confident. But really, we’re two guys that walk forward and will collide anyway, on the ground or on the feet, but I really believe the firepower I have in my hands.”
“You all know me for a long time, you’ve seen that when I stopped worrying about what my opponents bring to the game and only focused on what I can do, things started to work,” he continued. “Of course, there’s a huge team [around me], we know he has an aggressive boxing and throws two, three hands walking forward. He’s very dangerous — he knocked out Max Holloway in his last fight, so he’s dangerous, right?
“Everybody says his jiu-jitsu is good — he hasn’t used that yet in the UFC, but they say it’s good. Honestly, I’m only worried about what I can bring to the cage and how happy I am with this opportunity to add something gigantic to my legacy.”
