Current No. 1 ranked lightweight contender Charles Oliveira has only one title defense during this reign as the UFC's undisputed lightweight champion. 'do Bronx' made his only title defense against Dustin Poirier at UFC 269.
On December 11 at the T-Mobile Arena, Oliveira took Poirier's back and locked in a perfect rear naked choke, ending the contest in the third round. The loss also marked the second time Poirier had come short in a title fight.
Watch Oliveira's title defense below:
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Charles Oliveira initially claimed the undisputed lightweight strap after triumphing over former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler at UFC 262.
After facing early adversity in the opening round, the Brazilian made a stellar comeback in the second and knocked out the American to claim his maiden UFC gold.
Watch Oliveira vs. Chandler below:
However, the 32-year-old's title run came to an anticlimatic end when he was stripped of the belt after weighing in half a pound over the legal lightweight limit of 155lbs in his fight against Justin Gaethje.
Watch Oliveira vs. Gaethje below:
Although Oliveira submitted Gaethje in the very first round at UFC 274, the weight miss made him ineligible to retain his title.
Regardless of losing his lightweight strap, the Brazilian has been tearing up the lightweight division recently. He is currently on an 11-fight winning streak. His pro-MMA record currently stands at 33-8-1NC.
With a total of 21 submission wins on his resume, Oliveira is one of the most feared submission artists in mixed martial arts. He is scheduled to fight Islam Makhachev at UFC 280 on October 22 for the vacant lightweight strap.
When Charles Oliveira told the wholesome story of how he realized he got a title shot
In a recent interview on the Renato Cariani YouTube channel, former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira explained how he got the news of his maiden title shot with the UFC.
The Brazilian said that he and his father suddenly started crying once they learned that Oliveira had finally landed his title shot. The 32-year-old said:
"I'm at home, there's no phone signal, thank God no one disturbs. Only my dad's phone works... My dad had his phone in the pocket and it was raining, thank God we had signal in a place where we usually don't. So my dad says, there’s a message from Diego [Oliveira's coach]... My dad says, go back to the city to see what happened. I was driving... and suddenly my phone rings [he got a message].
I click and it says congrats son your dream has come true you are fighting for the title. I didn't even read the rest of it, I started crying and my dad asked what happened. I said I'm fighting for the title [and] my dad stared crying next to me. [as translated by WIRED MMA]
Watch Charles Oliveira narrate the story of how he realized he got his title shot below: