Former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira recently reveals his emotional reaction toward Islam Makhachev after losing the title in the main card of UFC 280.
UFC 280 took place on Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, where fight fans witnessed one of the most electrifying main events of all time. Islam Makhachev defeated Charles Oliveira to clinch the vacant lightweight championship.
After being dominated by the newly crowned Islam Makhachev, ‘Do Bronx’ shared his emotional impressions of his performance, as well as his training camp and future intentions.
On the note of shares, Oliveira discussed his training camp, his goals for the future, and his emotional reactions to losing to the newly crowned Islam Makhachev.
“There’s not much to say. It wasn’t my day,” Oliveira said during an interview shortly after UFC 280’s main event. “Islam was better than me on the mat and on the feet. I haven’t had time to watch it yet. I asked the boys about some things in the bathroom. He was better than me today. I have to give him credit and go back home. I know myself. I’ll come back 10 times stronger. I have a family and a huge team that will make that happen. We’ll take it back.”
Even though ‘Do Bronx’ acknowledged that Makhachev had the upper hand over him in every facet of that significant bout, he said that he wouldn’t have changed a thing throughout his training camp.
“I wouldn’t change a thing we did during camp. We did everything really well,” Oliveira said. “I was hitting hard, my mind was strong. In the locker room, I was telling my team: ‘Be at peace. It’s already been written. We’ll take what’s ours.’ But we don’t write it, God does. That’s the truth. I’ve learned a lot from it. It wasn’t my time. I think it was my day to lose, to go back home, relax and overcome.”
Oliveira’s defeat against Makhachev ended an 11-fight winning streak that has seen victories over some of the top fighters in the lightweight division, including Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson, and Dustin Poirier.
The 33-year-most old’s recent defeat came by TKO to Paul Felder in December 2017, which occurred prior to UFC 280.
