5 times that Charles Oliveira surprised his opponents in the UFC

#2. Charles Oliveira vs. Eric Wisely – UFC on Fox 2

Charles Oliveira used a calf slicer to leave Eric Wisely in agony in 2012

By the beginning of 2012, it was clear based on his early UFC showings that Charles Oliveira wasn’t the kind of fighter that opponents wanted to tangle with on the ground.

The Brazilian’s submissions of Darren Elkins, Efrain Escudero and Nik Lentz had been hugely impressive and it was clear that if an opponent gave their back to ‘Do Bronx’, they were probably about to be choked. Matched with Oliveira at UFC on Fox 2, debutant Eric Wisely appeared to recognize this and looked to avoid any kind of ground exchange with the Brazilian.

However, when he attempted to scramble free of ‘Do Bronx’ in the opening round, Oliveira grabbed his leg and looked to drag him into a heel hook. Wisely had clearly scouted the move and did a great defensive job by rolling through and avoiding a kneebar in the process.

Incredibly, though, Oliveira saw another opportunity. As ‘Little Lee’ attempted to pull his leg free, ‘Do Bronx’ locked up the first calf slicer in UFC history and forced him to tap out in sheer agony.

Prior to this, nobody had really attempted a calf slicer in the octagon, let alone used one to finish a fight. Not only had Oliveira taken Wisely by surprise with a seriously low-percentage move, he’d also written himself into UFC history in the process.

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#1. Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler – UFC 262

Charles Oliveira proved he was no glass cannon by taking out Michael Chandler to win the UFC lightweight title

The big knock on Charles Oliveira during his decade-long UFC career was always that he was somewhat of a glass cannon; spectacular on offense, but simply unable to absorb punishment in return.

By the time he found himself in a UFC lightweight title bout against Michael Chandler at UFC 262 this May, ‘Do Bronx’ was on an eight-fight win streak, but nagging doubts still remained. After all, in those eight fights, nobody had really been able to hurt the Brazilian, meaning there were still question marks around his toughness.

Those questions appeared to have been answered by Chandler in the early going of their fight. He dropped Oliveira badly in the opening round and then punished him with some truly brutal ground-and-pound that appeared to have the Brazilian on the verge of being finished.

Unlike in his earlier UFC fights, though, ‘Do Bronx’ somehow hung on and managed to survive the round, even if he looked wobbly heading back to his corner. It seemed like only a matter of time before Chandler put him away.

However, when the second round began, Oliveira stunned everyone by landing a crushing left hand that dropped the former Bellator champion.

Unlike Chandler, ‘Do Bronx’ was able to finish his fallen foe, hammering him with punches until he was completely done.

This was a truly remarkable turnaround from Charles Oliveira, but most importantly, it was one that nobody saw coming. Not only did Oliveira display his knockout power again, but this time he showed toughness and durability that we’d never seen from him before, something that may well help him against Poirier this weekend.