Charles Oliveira was born and raised in Brazil. He hails from the Vincente de Carvalho neighborhood in Guaruja and supports the local community to this day. Hence, it may come as a surprise that his fighter nickname is 'do Bronx', which is clearly a reference to the Bronx neighborhood in New York City.
During his recent appearance on the Ironberg podcast, Oliveira detailed the origin of his cage name. According to the former UFC lightweight champion, the nickname was chosen because it represents the "periphery", just like his neighborhood in Brazil.
Oliveira said (translated by the Brazilian MMA Legends YouTube channel):
"Because "Bronx" means periphery, which is where I come from, right? When I fought the first MMA event, I was too young. I had just turned 18. I fought GP of 3 fights in the same night… And when it was time, the guys were kinda laughing… Will you introduce yourself as Charles Oliveira? You have to invent something."
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He further added:
"I said, do you want me to pick Charles Favela? You are crazy? I won’t do it, bro. And a guy who was on our side said, "Bro, Charles ‘Do Bronx,’ because Bronx is periphery, it’s favela."
Watch Charles 'do Bronx' Oliveira detail the origin of his cage name below:
Charles Oliveira celebrates one-year anniversary of his win over Michael Chandler
Charles Oliveira recently took to Twitter to commemorate the one-year anniversary of his win over Michael Chandler at UFC 262. The lightweight duo locked horns for the vacant title last year following the shocking retirement of former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Oliveira had to battle through adversity in the first round and came back with a vengeance in the second, finishing Chandler via TKO.
Oliveira is coming off a scintillating submission win over Justin Gaethje at the recently concluded UFC 274 pay-per-view. The Brazilian was stripped of his belt after controversially missing weight prior to the bout.
Nevertheless, UFC president Dana White has confirmed that Oliveira will compete for the vacant title upon his return to the octagon.