LAS VEGAS – Charles Oliveira admits Saturday’s defeat was a painful one, but he’s ready to move forward.
The former UFC lightweight champion lost a close, split decision to Arman Tsarukyan on the main card of the historic UFC 300 event. He came close in finishing Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in a couple of submission attempts, but just wasn’t able to get the job done in the end.
Oliveira (34-10 MMA, 22-10 UFC) isn’t ready to give up on his title dreams and promises to bounce back from the defeat.
“Hello, my family. I just want to thank everyone with all my heart,” Oliveira said in Portuguese in a video message posted on his social media. “Not every day is going to be a day of glory. It was a hard fight. We had the opportunity to submit or even knock him out, but I couldn’t find myself.”
“I got some stitches over my eye, I’m a bit swollen, but I’m fine. I already cried. It’s part of the game. I’m going to move on now. I will return home, be with my family, and start training again. I hope that you will continue to cheer for me because everything I’m going through in life now is wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
“What I can promise is that I will come back stronger. It’s the game, there’s not much to be done. I had a wonderful camp, a wonderful weight cut this week, but that’s it. Today wasn’t the day. It wasn’t meant to be. Thank you. I’m fine, and I’ll come back better.”
— Charles ‘DoBronxs’ Oliveira (@CharlesDoBronxs) April 14, 2024
With the defeat, Oliveira is now 1-1 since losing the UFC lightweight title to Islam Makhachev back in October 2022. Prior to UFC 300, Oliveira had quickly stopped Dariush by first-round TKO. Oliveira was supposed to fight Makhachev for the belt last October, but he sustained a cut and was replaced by Alexander Volkanovski, who was knocked out by Makhachev.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.
Charles Oliveira promises he’ll bounce back from UFC 300 loss: ‘I will come back stronger’