Daniel Cormier is in awe of UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira’s growth as a mixed martial artist.
Oliveira (31-8 MMA, 19-8 UFC), the UFC’s all-time leader for submission wins, was always known as an excellent jiu-jitsu practitioner. But sometime along the way of his decade-long UFC tenure, Oliveira has developed into a well-rounded fighter, resulting in three of his past five wins coming via knockout.
That includes his biggest win to date, when he scored a second-round TKO of Michael Chandler to claim the vacant lightweight title at this past weekend’s UFC 262, proving that he’s not just a prolific submission artist.
“I feel like he’s just matured, man,” Cormier said on the latest episode of “DC & Helwani.” “Not only matured physically and as an athlete, he’s matured as a human being. Because, dude, I’m telling you, the knock on Charles Oliveira was that he could be spectacular, but he also could be a bit of a quitter, for lack of a better word. If you pressured him, if you beat on him, you could get him to question himself and just kind of give up.
“Charles Oliveira today does not give up on himself in any situation. But Charles Oliveira has also developed his standup to the point that he can not only grapple with the best fighters in the world, he can strike and stand with the best fighters in the world. He is so technically proficient, he is so good with everything that he does, that there is no weakness anymore.”
After a disastrous ending to the first round, where he was in survival mode after getting dropped, Oliveira was able to completely turn the tide on Chandler. In the opening seconds of Round 2, Oliveira landed a perfectly timed counter left hook which sent Chandler stumbling, and he was able to end the fight with additional strikes shortly after.
When breaking down the finish, Cormier had nothing but praise for Oliveira’s technique and execution.
“I have not seen a left hook thrown so beautifully in mixed martial arts in a really long time,” Cormier said. “When he threw it, there was no load-up. When he threw it, it went right to the target. His right hand was exactly where it needed to be at (his own) chin. So when Chandler was throwing his left hook, he would’ve landed but landed up against the hand or the fist of Charles Oliveira. Whereas Chandler’s hands were a little low, so Oliveira got to the spot and dropped him. I just think he does so many things the right way now, that it’s hard to find a way to beat ‘Do Bronx.’”
Daniel Cormier lauds ‘technically proficient’ Charles Oliveira for left hook KO of Michael Chandler
