Sherdog’s 2021 Fighter of the Year

Dreamers... Believe!#ChuteBoxe #MacacoGoldTeam #AFavelaVenceu pic.twitter.com/exjDnC12iI

— Charles 'DoBronxs' Oliveira (@CharlesDoBronxs) December 15, 2021

For the second year in a row, a son of Brazil is Sherdog.com’s “Fighter of the Year.”

Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight titleholder Charles Oliveira delivered record-setting results in 2021 and joins last year’s honoree, then-UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, as the second set of back-to-back Brazilian winners since the award was established in 2003. Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio Rua, named in 2004 and 2005 for their work in Pride Fighting Championships, along with Jose Aldo, recognized following a stellar 2009 campaign in World Extreme Cagefighting, round out the award’s five Brazilian recipients.

Oliveira is the third mixed martial artist alongside Benson Henderson (2012) and Conor McGregor (2016) to be singled out after competing at 155 pounds.

Known as “Do Bronx”—Brazilian slang for a person from the kind of favela in which Oliveira was raised, where, as a child, he suffered from rheumatism and doctors feared he may never walk properly—the 32-year-old Sao Paulo resident set fight fans ablaze during both of his performances inside the Octagon in 2021.

With the title that was vacated by Khabib Nurmagomedov up for grabs, Oliveira headlined UFC 262 against Michael Chandler on May 15 at the Toyota Center in Houston. “Do Bronx” suffered through an opening round in which two of the three judges recorded 10-8s for Chandler, but there was no denying his defining moment. The damage Oliveira endured in Round 1 was immediately brushed aside and, 19 seconds after the resumption of Round 2, a combination of clean strikes allowed him to break Chandler, along with the record for most finishes in the UFC. The result yielded another impressive Oliveira stat: His string of fights marked the longest road for any competitor who went on to win a UFC belt.

Oliveira’s next contest, his 29th UFC bout, represented a first title defense, and again, he was forced to prove what he was made of. The Brazilian’s 10th consecutive victory came as an underdog against Dustin Poirier in the UFC 269 main event on Dec. 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Dropped and hurt in the opening round, Oliveira withstood, recovered, dominated and then finished one of the soundest lightweights in MMA to close the year in typically exciting fashion.

Numbers can be misleading, but not when it comes to Oliveira. Against Poirier, Oliveira extended his record for the most submissions in the UFC with 15; bumped his record finishing total to 18; added his name to the shortlist of fighters with 20 or more wins inside the Octagon; tied Jim Miller for the most submission wins in UFC’s lightweight division; and secured a record 12th “Performance of the Night” award to equal Donald Cerrone for most post-fight bonuses in UFC history.

Yet of all the achievements Oliveira claimed to be most proud of during a challenging journey to the top, arriving at this point without betraying himself, without taking shortcuts or acting disrespectfully out of character stands out as especially meaningful. No surprise then that the Oliveira camp summed up their charge’s 2021 campaign as an “amazing year.”

“I’m really happy and moved by everything that is going on in my life lately,” Oliveira told Sherdog’s Marcelo Alonso Tuesday night after being notified of the award. “I’m UFC lightweight champion -- one of the most difficult weight divisions in the sport; I own the [UFC] record for submissions and bonuses; I’m ranked No. 5 in the UFC’s pound-for-pound list. And to finish this amazing campaign to be selected as Fighter of the Year by one of the most respected outlets in the world. I'm so happy and moved that I don’t know what to say. I’m just thankful to God.”

More than a decade after making his UFC debut as an unbeaten 12-fight 20-year-old prospect, Oliveira’s Octagon record sits at 20-8 with one no contest and reflects the organization’s willingness to provide an obvious talent with enough space to grow beyond his missteps, which has not always been the case for young fighters.

“He has been working hard to get to this position,” Oliveira’s co-manager and Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach Jorge Patino told Sherdog.com.

Since returning to the lightweight division in 2017, Oliveira made good on his opportunities and accumulated an 11-1 record. In January, “Do Bronx” will surpass 1,500 days without a defeat before he has to attempt to neutralize a variety of challengers who are seeking to displace him as the man atop arguably MMA’s deepest weight class.

Growing into a stout competitor capable of moving forward with immense pressure, Oliveira proved to anyone lucky enough to watch him in 2021—or unlucky enough to actually fight him—that there is little they can do to make him wilt in the face of extreme adversity. Such is the story of his life, after all.