Charles Oliveira says everybody is asking him about retirement after losing to Ilia Topuria.
Oliveira, one of the greatest lightweights of all time, took a nasty fall at International Fight Week when he was knocked out by Ilia Topuria inside of a round.
Topuria’s brutal KO of Oliveira won him a second world title in the main event of UFC 317, sending ‘Do Bronxs’ back to the drawing board.
Brazil’s Oliveira returned faster than anyone could have expected, as he takes on Rafael Fiziev in the main event of UFC Rio on Oct. 11, which is 105 days removed from his KO loss to Topuria.
After facing much criticism for the decision, Oliveira has spoken on the idea of retiring at home.
Charles Oliveira has ‘no desire’ to retire from UFC
Oliveira won’t be taking the Dustin Poirier route anytime soon.
Oliveira turns 36 a few days after his next fight against Fiziev, which will be the 48th bout of his career.
Despite his numbers getting up there, Oliveira has no intentions of walking away from the sport.
“No, no, no, forget it,” Oliveira said of potentially retiring at UFC Rio in an interview with AgFight (h/t: Championship Rounds).
“People are trying to retire me before I want to. I haven’t even thought about retirement. In every interview I’ve done today, all of them asked me about retirement.
“I have no desire to retire whatsoever. I don’t want to retire. There’s a lot that needs to happen.
“I’m only 35, there’s a lot still to come.
“Stop talking about retirement,” Oliveira added.
There’s still a lot of fun fights for Charles Oliveira
While there is a chance Oliveira never makes it back to the lightweight title, he’s not all that far from it at #4 in the world.
Oliveira is one of the most notable names in a stacked lightweight division and win, lose, or draw against Fiziev, the fun fights don’t stop at the Muay Thai striker.
Oliveira could challenge for Max Holloway’s BMF Championship with a win in Rio or the former champion could fight someone new like Dan Hooker or Paddy Pimblett.
With his mind not on retirement, we’ll see what the future holds for the top-tier grappler.