At UFC 317, Charles Oliveira will look to secure UFC gold for a second time in his career.
The main event on June 28 sees Oliveira face Ilia Topuria for the vacant lightweight title in one of the biggest fights of 2025.
‘Do Bronx’ is certainly no stranger to the spotlight having previously reigned as the 155-pound champion where he answered a lot of the questions that surrounded him.
Many believe that his biggest hurdle in this fight is the power that ‘El Matador’ brings to the table, with Topuria stopping both Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski in his latest outings.
Having already tested himself against some of the hardest-hitting lightweights, this isn’t a major concern for Oliveira.
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Charles Oliveira says people had the same doubts about his fight with Justin Gaethje where he got into a firefight and won
In the three consecutive lightweight title fights that he came out on top in, Charles Oliveira was forced to deal with some of the biggest punchers in the division.
He got his hand raised on each occasion following some wild striking exchanges where the elite fight finisher was able to recover from whatever damage he took before putting his opponents away.
‘Do Bronx’ spoke in an interview with Full Violence about how people questioned whether he’d be able to handle the power of Justin Gaethje ahead of their meeting at UFC 274.
Oliveira went on to submit ‘The Highlight’ in the opening round though he didn’t leave Arizona with the gold having lost his belt on the scales.
Gaethje was able to secure a knockdown in that round, but having also been dropped, he immediately praised Oliveira’s power in the aftermath of the fight.
“I don’t care much about what people say there, in reality, that’s the reality. I know he’s [Topuria] a guy who hits hard, but he’s talking about the lightweight category, the harder category. I fought against Justin Gaethje and everyone said he was the guy who hit harder, and when I did, he went down. I believe in the power of fire in the hands that I have, so let’s wait, on the 28th we’ll meet.”
Charles Oliveira has been stopped by strikes four times in his UFC career
Charles Oliveira has grown to be a very resilient fighter but this wasn’t always the case.
‘Do Bronx’ has been stopped by strikes on four occasions throughout his UFC career, though his defeat to Max Holloway was the result of an esophagus injury.
| Event | Opponent |
| UFC 218 (2017) | Paul Felder – Elbows |
| UFC Fight Night (2015) | Max Holloway – TKO due to injury |
| UFC 152 (2012) | Cub Swanson – Punch |
| UFC Live (2011) | Donald Cerrone – TKO |
In his wars with the likes of Justin Gaethje, Oliveira was able to withstand some big shots before coming back to finish his opponent.
The concern that some of his fans have is that Ilia Topuria has shown himself to be an excellent fight finisher who doesn’t let people off the hook once he has them hurt.