The MMA world was distressed when rumors about Charles Oliveira possibly pulling out of his bout against Michael Chandler at UFC 309 began to circulate. While that didn’t happen, and Oliveira found victory in his five-round war against ‘Iron’, ‘du Bronx’ came forth with a shocking revelation that provided much-needed context to the aforementioned rumors floating around. It turns out that ‘Do Bronx’ was indeed battling medical issues while preparing for his fight at MSG Arena. 

In a post-fight conversation with UFC Fight Pass Brazil, the former lightweight champion revealed that he was suffering from torn ligaments in his knees. He said, “I didn’t want to talk about it because if we lose it’s taken as excuse. If we win, we value it. But I had a knee injury. I tore or burst two ligaments. I was supposed to be out of action for four to six weeks.” 

Tearing ligaments in the knees – mostly ACL and MCL – is pretty common in the sporting realm. Damaging one’s ligaments is severely painful, and can result in the loss of range of motion, and swelling – rendering a fighter unable to move freely or stay active. However, with a potential title shot in his future, Oliveira didn’t want to stay put and pull out of his bout. He continued, “I didn’t want to pull out of this fight at all because I knew that if I won I could fight for the title again. I had to do physiotherapy every day, try to train with the pain, but I spent practically 15 to 20 days without training properly. I just really focused on weight training, which was the only thing I could do. But God blessed me enormously and everything worked out.”

Needless to say, training with an injured ligament comes with immense pain. For most people, knee injuries like the one ‘du Bronx’ suffered renders them unfit to compete. Even though Charles Oliveira suffered such a debilitating injury, he still showed up and beat Michael Chandler over five rounds, which shows the toughness, grit, and resilience of the Brazilian fighter.

Charles Oliveira’s partner reveals his troubles of injuries after his UFC 309 victory

Winning despite a crippling injury reflects Charles Oliveira’s championship mindset Hours after Oliveira revealed his injuries in the post-fight interview, Vitoria Brum took to Instagram and shared a few more details about the troubles that the lightweight fighter had to endure in the last 30 days. She wrote, “Nothing was easy, but if it was easy, it wouldn’t be you either. We went through an injury, and many nights of pain, and trained for several days with our lives turned upside down because we couldn’t sleep at night. The weight cut wasn’t as it should have been, taking your soul along with the kilos in that sauna.”

Brum pointed out that only those who were with ‘Do Bronx’ in the previous 30 days truly knew the emotions behind his UFC 309 victory. Oliveira went forth with the UFC 309 fight despite the injury, knowing what was at stake at the outcome of it. After all, with this win, he is closer to another shot at the lightweight title, where he will most likely face the winner of Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311.

With plans to return to the Octagon in January 2025, the Brazilian sent forth a challenge to both Makhachev and Tsarukyan. The Brazilian fighter has losses to both men, most recently losing a three-round decision to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300.

What are your thoughts on Charles Oliveira’s injury? What did you think of his performance at UFC 309 despite this injury? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.