Charles Oliveira had leg injury that disrupted training camp for UFC 262, says coach

Diego Lima, the coach for UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, revealed that the new champ had a leg injury during his training camp.

Oliveira picked up his ninth straight win and the biggest victory of his MMA career last weekend at UFC 262 when he brutally knocked out Michael Chandler in the second round to win the vacant UFC lightweight title. Although there were a few scary moments in the first round for the Brazilian, Oliveira looked incredible overall in the fight as he picked up a highlight-reel knockout with his improved hands and won the title. But according to his coach at Chute Boxe, Oliveira wanted to incorporate more kicks into the game plan.

Speaking to AG Fight, Lima revealed that Oliveira injured his leg during training camp and it impacted their strategy for the fight, which speaks to the mental toughness “Do Bronx.”

“Charles slipped, hurt his leg, so we couldn’t kick too much, it took us a long time to kick. We started kicking with two weeks to go before the fight and kicking was one of the things we most wanted to do in the fight. But nothing shakes Charles. It’s amazing how armored he is,” Lima said.

Oliveira has now won nine straight fights and is in line for a huge fight his next time out. It seems likely that the Brazilian will next take on the winner of UFC 264’s main event trilogy fight between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. However, there are other contenders in the division who are eagerly awaiting a title shot including Justin Gaethje and Beneil Dariush. We shall see who Oliveira ends up fighting but in the meantime, he is enjoying his time as the UFC champion, a well-deserved accolade after putting in so many years.

Who do you want to see Charles Oliveira fight next after beating Michael Chandler at UFC 262?