Charles Oliveira was unconsciously knocked for the first time in his MMA career when he fought in the main event of UFC 317 on June 28th when he was defeated by Ilia Topria, and he said he was the one who made him the most difficult when compared to his previous 46 fights.
“I’ve never been knocked out before,” Oliveira told AG. fight. “I was knocked down before, and I was Tko’d, but I’ve never been knocked out before. This time I didn’t know what happened. That was new to me.”
“He’s definitely the one who hit me the hardest,” he continued. “You beat me and hurt me with super tough guys like Justin Gettege, Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler, and he really hit me hard.”
Oliveira revealed that once it was over he had no memories of the battle, and it felt strange to experience it for the first time.
“I asked many times what happened and where I was,” Oliveira said. “Diego (Lima), my wife and family (say), “Relax, breathe, I’ll talk later.” In fact, it didn’t happen that way before. It’s upsetting, it’s awful, but it’s part of the game. ”
“Do Bronx” was cut short once again with his attempt to regain the lightweight championship. And, more than the knockout itself, Oliveira said that what hurts him the most was not playing the way he planned.
Oliveira said his strategies include front kicks to keep Topuria away, diagonal kicks and calf kicks, standing in front of his undefeated talent and not falling in a brief rage. Instead, and for reasons he cannot explain, he fell into the trap of Topria in Las Vegas.
“Everything I trained was not in a fight,” Oliveira said. “I’ve been doing this for many years and never got knocked out like that. It’s too complicated. …We’re talking about MMA. It’s very unpredictable. He was happy there, did a better job and became a champion.”
Oliveira said he still watched him return to conversation for a shot at the UFC belt with “one, two, three wins” against the correct name, but he hasn’t thought about it at this point. He will spend time traveling at seminars and resume training to return to action in the fourth quarter of 2025.
“We’re in November and early December, and we’d like to fight again this year,” Oliveira said. “I want to have a good fight. I don’t know for anyone, but that’s probably the timing.”