How did Charles Oliveira get paralyzed after Max Holloway fight?

Even though former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira seems like an unstoppable force of nature these days, 'Do Bronx' has overcome a lot of adversities in the past.

Oliveira entered the UFC as an undefeated Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace and like his father once told him, he found out that getting there was relatively easy as compared to staying there.

Oliveira has suffered many difficult losses, has faced embarrassment for botched weight cuts, and has been at the wrong end of some highlight reel finishes. However, none of those were as brutal as what he went through after the Max Holloway fight.

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When did Charles Oliveira get paralyzed?

Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway were entering the top echelons of the featherweight division in the Jose Aldo-Conor McGregor era. They were matched up for a five-round main event fight in August 2015.

It was Oliveira's first-ever main event appearance and he suffered a first-round TKO defeat against Max Holloway at UFC Fight Night 74 because of a micro-tear in his esophagus. The injury was so severe that it resulted in the left side of his body being completely paralyzed for four hours.

Watch Max Holloway vs. Charles Oliveira below:

Oliveira suffered the injury while shooting for a takedown against Holloway. In an interview with MMA Fighting, the fighter revealed that he initially sustained the neck injury while training but thought the issue was resolved after undergoing physical therapy.

In a 2015 interview with COMBATE, 'Do Bronx' stated that he initially thought the injury was going to leave him crippled:

"It was four hours without moving the left side. Everything went through my head. I was afraid of being crippled. I was sad, I cried like hell. Not for losing, but for the way it happened. People end up thinking the worst. It was a shock to everyone in the family, so much so that my mother cried when she saw me returning from the States. It was bad, a scare, but the situation is over." [Translated from Portuguese by Goolge]

It's not surprising that 'Do Bronx' recovered from his injury and is now stronger than ever. Oliveira has faced health-related adversities since early childhood.

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Which disease almost stopped Charles Oliveira from pursuing sports as a child?

Although Charles Oliveira is now one of the most decorated lightweights in the history of the division, the jiu-jitsu aficionado had to overcome unfathomable odds to realize his UFC dreams.

At the age of seven, he was diagnosed with rheumatism and abnormal heart murmurs. This medical condition was deemed to keep him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In an interview with ESPN MMA, 'Do Bronx' stated that his doctors told him he could never play sports:

"The doctors said that I couldn't play sports, but as I told my father and mother, I would rather die than stop doing the things I liked. I believed in the sport, I had faith in God, and he blessed me, as he has been blessing me until today."

However, Oliveira soon proved the medical professionals wrong as he and his brother began training jiu-jitsu under his friend’s father Paulo, and the rest is history.

Charles Oliveria is scheduled to fight rising contender Arman Tsarukyan in a title eliminator bout at the UFC 300 pay-per-view event on April 13.