Charles Oliveira is looking for a fight, but not just any fight.
A few months after his knockout loss to current champion Ilia Topuria, Charles Oliveira was booked to return in the main event of UFC Rio against Muay Thai specialist Rafael Fiziev.
Weeks away from their fight on Oct. 11, Oliveira got the news that Fiziev was forced out of the lightweight bout due to injury.
There’s been a lot of talk about different contenders potentially stepping in to fight Oliveira on short notice, like Benoit Saint-Denis, who didn’t end up taking the fight after previously claiming he would.
While Oliveira criticized his rivals for not stepping up, there is one lightweight contender who refuses to back down from fighting the Brazilian in enemy territory: Mateusz Gamrot.
Charles Oliveira addresses potential fight with Mateusz Gamrot
Oliveira was recently asked about possibly fighting Gamrot, a renowned grappler ranked #8 in the lightweight division.
In his campaign for Oliveira, Gamrot suggested the most prolific submission artist in UFC history was scared to fight a fellow grappler.
Oliveira details his issues going from a high-level striker to a high-level grappler.
“I was focused on a guy who comes from a striking background,” Oliveira told Laerte Viana (via Championship Rounds)
“With two weeks left until the fight, I have to change my whole game plan.
“It’s very complicated,” Oliveira continued.
“I don’t want to be taken off the card. I asked for this card, I’ve been training like crazy for it…
“[Gamrot] is a good matchup for me in a sense because he’s a wrestler/grappler,” Oliveira admitted.
“But it’s completely different from the style I’ve been training for the last month or two. It’s about understanding and game planning,” said Oliveira.
Charles Oliveira faces backlash over Mateusz Gamrot comments
Oliveira was criticized online for his latest comments, a day after he went on a rant about fighters lying about stepping up.
“So why were you talking all that talk about fighters not stepping up to short notice?” one fan said of Oliveira.
“Horrible look for Charles who literally just put fighters on blast for not fighting him, saying he’ll fight anyone and then immediately saying he’d rather fight someone other than Gamrot,” another fan said.
“So he’s basically saying he’s scared, crazy he doesn’t even trust his “elite” jiu jitsu anymore,” another fan wrote on X.
“Blah blah blah… this would be the 2nd time Gamrot’s called you out…. Just say you’re ducking buddy,” said another fan.