Charles Oliveira may have won in the vacant UFC lightweight belt in a thrilling comeback TKO victory, but from the sound of things, the Brazilian wasn’t exactly in the best shape of his career coming into the fight. According to the newly minted champion’s coach, Diego Lima, ‘Do Bronx’ had suffered a leg injury during their training camp for UFC 262 — one that forced them to redesign their gameplan.
In an interview with Ag Fight, Lima explained exactly why it was that Oliveira wasn’t able to kick as much as they had hoped during his bout with Chandler. Despite suffering the training injury, however, Diego was pleased to see Oliveira’s recovery and how well he was able to handle the fight in the Octagon.
“Charles slipped. He hurt his leg, so we couldn’t kick too much. It took us some time before we could start kicking. We started kicking only two weeks prior to the fight and kicking was one of the things we wanted to do the most in the fight. Nothing fazes Charles, though. He’s bulletproof, it’s amazing.”
The victory for Oliveira marked his ninth straight inside the Octagon and 31st overall. Still just 31-years old, the fight was the Chute Boxe fighter’s 28th trip to the Octagon. No word yet on when ‘Do Bronx’ will look to return to the Octagon, but it seems likely that the upcoming trilogy bout between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor could tab the lightweight champ’s first title defense.
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