Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Lightweights

3. Charles Oliveira

For a while, Charles Oliveira was a prodigal son. He was one of the most talented BJJ practitioners the sport had ever seen, on top of excellent wrestling. Yet, he always lost in the big matches, often to far less talented opponents who were simply tougher, more mentally focused and better-conditioned. Fortunately for the MMA world, the supremely talented Brazilian figured it out. For one, he developed outstanding striking to go along with his boxing, with tremendously light, lithe footwork to accentuate his crisp, powerful boxing and brutal, accurate kicks. Even more, Oliveira developed the toughness and will he had lacked before, showing tremendous heart and fighting spirit in coming back from nearly being knocked out by Michael Chandler to win a round later, and triumphing over Dustin Poirier in Round 3 after a pitched battle. Oliveira has lost eight times in the UFC, including a stretch which saw him go 2-4 by December of 2017, when Paul Felder of all people stopped him with ground-and-pound. That's when the 28-year-old decided to turn his career around, going 11-0 since, including submissions of Jim Miller, Kevin Lee, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, a thunderous knockout of Chandler to win the title, and a one-sided beatdown of Tony Ferguson. It's one of the great streaks and turnarounds in the sport, and even if Oliveira loses to Islam Makhachev in his next defense and never wins again, he has done more than enough in my mind to be considered one of the greatest lightweights ever.

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