Former champion Charles Oliveira spoke with the media ahead of his co-main event fight against Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 on …
comfortable so Charles right here I’ll just expand a little bit on having this honor for the 50 clean usata test was it mean to you to be a clean athlete competing in MMA shooters very happy because it’s something that I always talk about this in every interview um the the Legacy that we want to live to to leave in the sport um the work that we put in being clean all the time I think my smile spoke for me um when you saw it I’m I’m very happy really uh for for being a clean athlete and just going forward like this you’ve been fighting in the UFC since well before the susada program started do you think it is being effective in cleaning up the sport and do you think before this came in a lot more people were using Voice [Music] of course um before most likely people were probably abusing this uh this this this enables to actually and forces to be athletes true athletes so you can test anytime that you can you’re going to be clean at all at all times throughout throughout the process of course people were probably abusing in the past but I do feel that this is right now if you have to be ready at all times you have to be clean at all times and this uh the program as an able to do that okay let’s move on to this fight uh it’s your fifth time fighting in the UFC in Canada and it hasn’t gone so well in the past um when they offered you this fight here was there any reluctance to come back and fight in Canada again foreign foreign there’s a new Step that you need to take um on your way to the top you know when I came here every single time it was cold snowy things are changing I mean this it’s it’s nice it’s it’s warm it’s beautiful out things are changing things are different this is a new moment of the neutrals uh and things are going to start changing as well on the way back to your child so what does the new Charles like because I know you said you’ve you didn’t really look too much into the Islam Market shadow fight you kind of pushed it to the side because you didn’t feel as a good performance so what have you done differently leading into this fight is foreign about that other fight um I didn’t watch it it wasn’t me I wasn’t there uh this is a different Charles this is a Charles that’s there’s the the Charles that you’re going to see is the child that you know that’s thirsty for victory that’s hungry um someone who’s back at it and the a lion that’s always hunting that’s the trials that you’re going to see and the sauce thing for me uh the narrative going into this seems to be if beneal wins he will be getting the title shot against Islam and Abu Dhabi but people are saying if you win you know maybe it’ll be Poirier or gaichi or you know Connor or something like that um do you feel like if you win this fight it has to be you and I guess why would you feel that way foreign foreign whoever wins this fight this Saturday it’s gonna is gonna go for the title I’m I’m next I’m in line for it Charles right here um a lot of people when you posted that photo online of you in the sauna with the sweatsuit and everything they started to maybe become nervous about your weight cut so I have to ask how has the weight cut been um I’m just like a war tank right now that’s the reason why because I’m very strong for the fight okay uh benil was in here and we had asked him like how how he would compare his grappling to yours and he said he was pretty confident if this was a straight up Jiu Jitsu grappling match she thinks he could beat you nine out of ten times maybe 10 out of 10 times so how would you rate pineal’s grappling in there will be new video is foreign [Music] foreign [Music] like this but um I’ve said in all the respects of the world for him um the one thing I’ve said this many times I’m an MMA fighter I’m a complete fighter uh we’re not here I’m not a Jujitsu fighter well if you feel so confident about his Jujitsu he has three rounds to try to bring it down to the ground and see what’s going on and we’ll see what happens and since you were a champion obviously I think you became a massive star in Brazil and it seems like your gym shoot to boxing is blown up there’s a lot of fighters in the UFC now from your gym so how has uh gym life been a few with this new influx of Fighters here in this organization is family is donations [Music] foreign getting this done uh at this point right now we have 10 Fighters actually eight Fighters and two more Contender series coming up um we’re putting out Wars out there uh it’s so happy to actually see this happening um but then then the evolution um we’re happy to be part of this and and be part of the trajectory up like we’re seeing that every single time we’re all going to the top and last one for me how long did that back tattoo take on you foreign how painful was it yeah foreign [Music] like when it once it starts you can’t stop right but uh it was it got sometimes got complicated but you know what I thought I thought about the end product I thought it was going to come out it’s like I always wanted to have the full line on my back so I got it how many breaks did you take during those two sessions I didn’t ask for any breaks actually we didn’t take any and we only took breaks on William from CS that was yes that actually it had made a tattoo when he to take a break a little bit need to eat something but I said listen I just want to get done and over with man Charles over here with the fact that there is potentially a title shot on the line here next do you feel like this should have been a five round fight instead of three uh um foreign I’m ready for five rounds uh if it’s five or three it doesn’t matter I can tell you something I’ve been having fought three rounds in one in a long time uh just three rounds obviously I haven’t let it get to uh through three rounds so we’ll just fight I know you said you didn’t watch your last fight against Islam uh but what did you learn the most from that fight that maybe you’re bringing into this fight foreign give her daddy foreign I’ve said this many times all I wanted was to just chill just relax um you don’t learn obviously you don’t learn anything new um when you don’t watch something to learn I just needed to relax to be close to my family being close to the people that I love that’s what I really wanted that’s what I did and kind of on that note this fight’s in Vancouver it’s neutral territory uh benil is a pretty respectful opponent I know in your last fight maybe the fans there was a lot of sort of noise going into that fight um how different is this fight compared to the last one uh just you know with the fact that things seem a lot more mellow than last time says foreign for you against you because when they close that gate it’s just the two of you obviously it’s great when the crowd is in front of you and it is is pushing for for you and it’s supporting you but at the end of the day I mean we’re gonna go up in there by the way I’m getting a lot of messages here in Vancouver anyway a lot of people are getting in touch with me um we’re gonna go up there again we’re gonna fight we’re gonna make history and here’s it how did you score that fight for Islam against Alex volkanovsky I was curious your scorecard on that yeah foreign um it I thought Islam won the fight um at the end of the day it I throughout the fight you saw a gray warrior fighting again think about everything that the volkanowski did um the takedown defense was great first of all the heart they showed that taked out the fence all the time and when actually he was brought down to the ground he defended himself really well but there was that additional point that Islam had for being a champion and for being ahead I just felt that he was always a step ahead of Valentine so I thought yeah he won and just my last question if you look at the metrics going into this fight a lot of people seem to be more interested in this fight than the main event what does that mean to you to have so many people you know consider this maybe the uncrowned main event of this card is [Music] foreign foreign the world that comes to mind is gratitude gratitude for everyone you know talking about my name I’m hearing so many things and getting so many messages I don’t want to keep it there uh with people I don’t want to have that in my head all the time but um let’s say a very happy gratitude and very thankful for everyone and we’re gonna come out there and make history once again just a quick one over here when you talk about that last fight and say you know that wasn’t you you weren’t there have you ever had that feeling before in your career mode [Music] never in my life never I’ve never had that feeling um for all of you there are real fans of mine that admire what I do did you see 10 of me there at all can’t say can’t say that I did yep since elementary [Music] that’s it I I wasn’t there sometimes you didn’t you don’t you have no way of explaining you don’t understand why things are happening uh there’s a purpose for things not happening or happening but I wasn’t there man so it wasn’t a feeling of being maybe a little burnt out or anything like that uh foreign um I don’t know man I I it just it just wasn’t me um how many times have you seen me get knocked down and come back up how many times have you seen me bleed and come back and do things um he is a great fighter all respect to him he’s he’s a warrior but I have not watched it I’m not gonna watch it simply it wasn’t me the last one for me then how different is the feeling that you have ahead of this fight for me is sincerely I’m hungry um I’m happy everybody that sees me sees how happy I am to be here I’m hungry I’m I’m gonna go after this guy I mean I have all the respect in the world for him but I’m gonna go after him I’m gonna hunt him all the time he wanted war wars come over considering you’ve been in there with both Dustin Poirier and just engaging I’m just curious how you feel the rematch goes down oh my God [Music] um surely going to be a war once again um it’s a fight they’re going to do what they do best is just go to war it’s a fight that I’m interested in I want to watch it and once again they’re gonna put out a fight man and last one who do you feel who do you think’s gonna win in the main event that one yeah Okay Main Event this event this event oh sorry man that’s what I meant um foreign um of course rooting for Brazil Amanda she has to have all the respect in the world for an opponent that’s tough comes in with the heart puts her hand in into its opponents very strong on the ground as well but it has to be Amanda it has to be the Amanda that we know always going forward always pressing forward has to be after going after question to your left spoke to it sort of a moment ago but in the countdown uh for this uh for this pay-per-view coming up you mentioned that you’re at pardon your career where it’s important to be happy most important thing is to just maintain a certain happiness as you go into fight week so I’m at now that you’re a couple days away from that have you been able to maintain that same sort of mindset now just a couple of days out from the fight yeah um surely being being able to be close to people that continue to make you happy and happy help your happiness they’re the people that shove the problems away they’re the people that keep your your spirits up um they’re the ones that are right next to you and that that never even in defeat that they um they always with you always with them always with people that you love always being happy and always believing in a purpose from God we got to watch on UFC embedded his horse win last week so I want to ask him was that the first time one of his horses has won a race and the excitement level of watching his horse race compared to him having a success in the Octagon how does that compare the rush of that um foreign now if you know the Champs so uh no it was not first time I’ve been waiting for for the horse been waiting for quite some time um it’s important because first of all the feeling look at the the comparison between you know my horse and and which is a passion for me now that I’m actively in it so the horse is an athlete it works every day I work every day the horse is working every day I take old baths that that that that horse Takes size beds as well uh there’s supplementation for the after their supplementation for the for the uh for the horse too and this Saturday my horse runs uh is going to race again for the final gems and I’m gonna be here so all these three things at the same time race is again for something and I’m gonna be here so it’s a very important moment it just it’s been taking it all in so um it’s gonna be great things on Saturday lastly Vancouver’s home to both a thoroughbud racing track as well as a harness racing track will he does he ever take the time to visit other horses and Facilities where he fights and will he spend some time here in Vancouver doing that yeah foreign like to pay respect to the other to other places and and other types of races obviously have not been able to do this year because I’m focused on the fight and focused on cutting my weight but every time I have a chance or we get a chance we go and visit yes foreign