Scouting Report: Charles Oliveira

Charles Oliveira

Born: October 17, 1989 (Age: 33) in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Division: Lightweight
Height: 5’10”
Reach: 74”
Record: 33-8 (21-8 UFC)
Association: Chute Boxe Diego Lima
Stage of Career: Prime

Summary: Oliveira is one of the most absurdly skilled and complete fighters in MMA history. Not only is he possibly MMA’s greatest Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner ever, but he is also an outstanding wrestler and has developed some top-shelf striking. He is a virtuoso technically, but he also has tremendous natural fluidity and is absurdly accurate and sudden with his movements, not to mention fast and powerful with his strikes. He has a slew of powerful punches to rival that of a world-class boxer, devastating kicks that rank among the best in the sport, an insanely good knee at range and phenomenal movement. He only gets more dangerous in the grappling department. Always a step or two ahead of his opponents, Oliveira can easily submit even the best grapplers with his guillotine or rear-naked choke. Additionally, he is an outstanding wrestler with brutally heavy hips for top control and vicious ground-and-pound. Formerly a weakness, his cardio is now outstanding. Plus, he recovers well from blows and operates with exceptional intelligence. The only mild weakness? His defense is merely good, meaning it can potentially be punctured.

STRIKING

• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Fast; noticeably above average.
• Jab: Technical, accurate and fairly hard.
• Cross: Accurate, powerful and sudden, it represents everything you could want in the punch.
• Left Hook: Carries a tight arc and plenty of rotation, and he loves to throw it to the body.
• Right Hook: Sneaky and short, with a very tight arc and plenty of power. He can catch opponents coming in with the punch, as he did against Jared Gordon.
• Overhand Right: Rarely uses it.
• Uppercuts: Technical, tight, accurate, sudden and powerful.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: More of a one-shot sniper, though he throws combinations when openings materialize.
• Favorite Combination(s): The one-two, which he throws with skill and fluidity.
• Leg Kicks: Fast, sudden and quite powerful.
• Body Kicks: Carries similar properties to those he throws to the legs. He can also score with a fantastic front kick to the midsection.
• Head Kicks: Effective but slightly more telegraphed than those he throws to the body and legs.
• Knees: Dynamic, fast, powerful and accurate.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.

It is jaw-dropping that Oliveira, who does not come from a striking background, now has much better standup than many world-class kickboxers in MMA. He is outstanding at every single punch he uses, from his laser jab and his tremendous right cross to textbook hooks from either hand and an incredible right uppercut. His kicks—including his awesome front kick to the body—are jarring and sudden, ranking among the best in the sport. Oliveira also features a knee at range which seems endlessly dynamic, powerful and accurate. His footwork and movement around the cage are phenomenal, often making it appear that he covers space at a different rate of speed than others. His defense, perhaps his only true weakness, is good but not great, though he blocks well and utilizes evasive head movement.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: He has bullied multiple opponents in close quarters.
• Technique: Every movement appears textbook perfect.
• Knees: Hard, accurate and thrown at a constant rate.
• Elbows: Rarely throws them.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Few people are willing to engage him, his offensive weapons and strength serving as deterrents.

Oliveira is ridiculously strong in the clinch relative to what one may expect, and few—if any—can rival his technique. He pelts opponents with powerful knees while in tight spaces and often avoids being hit by any return fire.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: Uses a fast, technical double-leg that he can turn into an outside trip or a lift if he so desires.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Another category in which he excels. He grounded Myles Jury from a lift into an outside trip and easily picked up and slammed Jim Miller. Oliveira took down Tony Ferguson at will. Those efforts included a waistlock lift into a slam, a caught kick for a takedown and a double-leg lift into a slam.
• Takedown Defense: Stellar. A beautiful guillotine counter with an insane squeeze highlights his methods, as he has finished experience grapplers like Jury, Clay Guida and Kevin Lee with the maneuver. Lee managed to hit a perfectly timed double-leg against him in reaction to a knee strike and later took him down with a body lock into an outside trip. However, it requires considerable effort and skill to get Oliveira to the mat.
• Ability to Return to His Feet: Incredibly athletic with his hip escapes as long as his cardio lasts, and he is plenty dangerous off his back.
• Submissions: Among the best in the sport’s history. Fluid with his movements, and he anticipates his opponents’ tactics and counters them as they begin. Beyond his legendary guillotine, he favors the rear-naked choke and has proven absolutely phenomenal at finishing with it, pairing an ability to change grips and arm positioning with a crushing squeeze.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Phenomenal so long as he can avoid ground-and-pound; a never-ending, incredibly quick series of submission attempts, transitions and sweeps, always one or two steps ahead of the opponent, and impossible to keep up with. However, can get discouraged and even give up if he receives heavy ground-and-pound.
• Top Control: All-time great, with incredibly heavy hips.
• Ground-and-Pound: Pairs powerful, accurate elbows with damaging, accurate punches he manages to snake through, all while using his body well.

Oliveira is one of the very best grapplers MMA has ever seen, and possibly the best at applying BJJ to it. He is a monster with takedowns in the clinch, and once there, he is a terror on top, able to dissect prey with brutal ground-and-pound or easily slice through their guard and finish with possibly the most dangerous RNC in combat sports. Oh, and his brutally heavy hips make getting back up almost impossible. From his back, he is generally outstanding with a never-ending, hyper-fast series of submission attempts, transitions and sweeps, always a step or two ahead of his opponents, which applies to him on the ground in general. However, if his foe inflicts heavy ground-and-pound, Oliveira can become discouraged, which was evident against Felder as well as Makhachev. Taking down Oliveira is immensely hard, but keeping him there, or avoiding the sweeps and subs off his back is even harder.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: Shockingly strong and boasts fluid, athletic movements.
• Cardio: Formerly a weakness but now excellent, allowing him to fight at a breakneck pace against certain opponents while barely slowing down in the third round.
• Chin: Formidable, though he can be hurt, like any other fighter, by particularly strong connections.
• Recuperative Powers: Able to weather the storm when in serious trouble.
• Intelligence: Makes consistently good decisions, shows improvement from fight to fight and seems to always notice when an opening exists to transition away from the standup and use his world-class grappling.