5 times that Charles Oliveira surprised his opponents in the UFC

#4. Charles Oliveira vs. Darren Elkins – UFC on Versus 2

Charles Oliveira submitted Darren Elkins in under a minute in his UFC debut

When Charles Oliveira signed with the UFC in 2010, he came in as a fresh-faced 20-year old with an impressive MMA record of 12-0. However, he didn’t look like the most physically imposing fighter, giving opponent Darren Elkins plenty of hope when he was matched against ‘Do Bronx’ for the Brazilian’s debut.

Sure enough, within seconds of the fight's beginning, it was clear that ‘The Damage’ wanted to impose his strength and power on Oliveira. Closing the distance, he lifted ‘Do Bronx’ into the air before slamming him down at a high angle.

However, moments later it became clear that Elkins was painfully out of his depth on the ground with the newcomer.

Oliveira threw his legs up, caught Elkins in a picture-perfect triangle choke and before the American had time to react, switched out into a straight armbar to force ‘The Damage’ to tap out.

The whole fight lasted just 41 seconds. Elkins was clearly caught by surprise by the speed and ferocity of Oliveira’s submission attack. Fans had expected ‘Do Bronx’ to be good, but not that good, something that many other fighters found out in the years that followed.

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#3: Charles Oliveira vs. Jared Gordon – UFC Fight Night 164

Charles Oliveira stunned Jared Gordon with his knockout power in 2019

While Charles Oliveira had always been a willing striker, prior to 2019, he’d never really demonstrated true knockout power in his hands.

That changed when he stopped Nik Lentz via TKO in the second round of their fight that May. At the time, it felt fair to write that fight off as a fluke. After all, Lentz was past his prime and the finish had also come in a pretty wild brawl.

Therefore, when ‘Do Bronx’ was matched with Jared Gordon six months later, most fans expected him to look to unleash his usual submission attacks, rather than attempt to stand and bang with ‘Flash’. That theory was proven painfully wrong after just over a minute of the fight.

A brief exchange on the ground saw Gordon quickly scramble free of a potential submission attempt and on the feet, it was clear that he felt safe. That turned out to be far from the truth.

As Gordon lunged forward, Oliveira landed a short right hand that dropped him to a knee and then followed with a brutal uppercut that knocked him absolutely silly.

While nobody could claim Gordon was an elite-level 155lber, this was still an eye-opening performance. That's because Charles Oliveira had proven that he could finish a fight not only on the ground, but on the feet too, instantly transforming him into one of the division’s most deadly fighters.