“Honestly, I laugh at this kind of stuff,” Oliveira told MMA Fighting ahead of his first defence against Diego Lopes, which headlines UFC 335 on December 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. If the BMF title is only about two fighters standing and swinging, rock ’em sock ’em robots in his phrase, then, as he put it, take it somewhere else.
The criticism stems from March. At UFC 326, also at T-Mobile Arena, Oliveira met Holloway in a rematch eleven years after Holloway beat him, and rather than meet the striker on his terms, he grounded him, controlled him and won the belt on the cards. It was a decisive performance in a fight many fans had hoped would become a slugfest, and the reaction online focused less on the result than on the style. Oliveira’s record is the obvious rebuttal. He has finished 21 of his 25 UFC victories since joining the promotion in 2010 and holds the promotion’s records for most finishes, most submissions and most post-fight bonuses. Grappling is not a detour from that résumé. It is how most of it was built.
He has no intention of changing that against Lopes. “Of course, I’m not approaching this with the mindset of, ‘Let’s stop and trade punches to see who goes down first,'” Oliveira said. “I’m going into the fight with Diego with absolutely no pressure.” His goal, he added, is to show a more complete version of himself than in his recent fights with Holloway and Mateusz Gamrot, and the only verdict he cares about is the simplest one. “It’s right there, a win or a loss. That’s all I want to know.”
Oliveira also acknowledged the career cost of the style debate. He touched on the perception that a more aggressive performance might have earned him a bigger fight, while Holloway, despite losing, went on to headline a rematch with Conor McGregor months later. Oliveira, meanwhile, waited for a shot at the lightweight title, which remains on hold while champion Justin Gaethje recovers into 2027, before the Lopes fight came together.
Lopes makes for an intriguing challenger. The Mexico-based Brazilian, who lost both of his featherweight title fights to Alexander Volkanovski, decided there were few options left at 145 pounds and moved up, telling Yahoo Sports he wanted “fun fights at 155.” He was preparing for Dan Hooker when the UFC offered him Oliveira, with Benoit Saint Denis floated as an alternative, and he took the bigger name. It will be his lightweight debut in the promotion, and a meeting of two Brazilians with real submission skills and genuine finishing power. It is also, remarkably, Oliveira’s first UFC fight against a fellow countryman; the last time he faced a Brazilian opponent was in 2010. There is no bad blood, and opening odds made Oliveira the favourite.
The headliner sits atop a strong December card that also features Alex Pereira against Sergei Pavlovich in a five-round heavyweight co-main event. For Oliveira, the stakes are about more than a symbolic belt. A convincing win keeps him firmly in the lightweight title conversation, and a finish would answer the criticism in the language his critics prefer. He is not promising either. He is promising to fight his way, which is the way that made him the most prolific finisher the UFC has ever had.
