It’s safe to say Charles Oliveira is a hometown hero.
The new lightweight champion received a warm welcome when he returned to his town of Guaruja – a favela located in Sao Paulo – fresh off his championship victory at UFC 262 in Houston. Oliveira claimed the vacant lightweight title when he stopped former Bellator champion Michael Chandler with a second-round TKO inn the main event.
Oliveira was expecting people to welcome him with joy, but he didn’t see coming the frenzy that went down in his return home.
“It’s been complete madness, everything that’s happened,” Oliveira told ESPN. “I’m really happy and very grateful. I expected a good reception, but it went down in a way I never imagined it would. It was 10 times better than what I was thinking.”
Oliveira said the welcome happened organically. People witnessed his impressive feat and word of mouth gathered everyone to welcome Oliveira back to Guaruja. The 31-year-old champion thinks it’s his trajectory in MMA that got people ecstatic about his big win.
“It’s my story, my story, my story – because people really wanted that,” Oliveira said. “Without a doubt, people wanted that to be part of my story. They wanted me to win. My story is the big difference here.”
Oliveira had been competing in the promotion for a decade and had never fought for a title before UFC 262. The Brazilian was never able to string a solid winning streak together until his latest run. Oliveira hasn’t lost since 2017 and is on a nine-fight winning streak.
Oliveira hasn’t been told who will be his first title challenger, but he expects it to be the winner of the Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor trilogy fight at UFC 264 on July 10.
“The UFC hasn’t spoken about that, but everyone is talking about it – so we’re going to see what happens,” he said.
Charles Oliveira reacts to ‘complete madness’ of hero’s welcome in Brazil after UFC 262 title win
