“Used to feel he was breakable”- Trevor Wittman provides his honest assessment of Charles Oliveira
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Trevor Wittman- Charles Oliveira
UFC Lightweight champion Charles Oliveira has silenced many doubters on his way to becoming the world champion and Justin Gaethje’s head coach Trevor Wittman is one of them. Oliveira has come out a long way of wins and losses to initiate a 10-fight winning streak in the latest phase of his career and win a world championship as well, only to defend it against what many had thought was the best lightweight in the division back at UFC 269 in December 2021.
Oliveira went on to shock the world when he finished former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier via submission in the third round, the same way that former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Poirier, Oliveira did earlier. Now, Oliveira is looking for a second title defence against another former interim champion in Justin Gaethje. A win over Gaethje as well might put Oliveira amongst the discussions of the greatest lightweights of all time.
Trevor Wittman feels the presence of ‘the weaker one’ inside Charles Oliveira is well hidden now
However, we look forward to the UFC’s special Countdown for UFC 274 and Gaethje’s coach Trevor Wittman, who’s also coaching women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas and welterweight champion and pound for pound #1 Kamaru Usman, shares some insights on his early assessments of Oliveira as a young fighter trying to make his way through featherweight division back in the days. Now, Oliveira is in the best position of his professional career as a lightweight.
“Usually fighters have that unbreakable mindset until they get broken,” says Wittman whilst watching and analysing Oliveira’s first title fight, the victory that made him a champion against former Bellator MMA lightweight champion Michael Chandler at UFC 262, where Oliveira lost the first round, only to come back and knock Chandler out in the second. “Charles, I used to feel he was breakable. But, he’s gotten better, mentally. That weak one that’s in there, doesn’t really come out that much anymore,” concludes Wittman.
What do you make of coach Wittman’s assessment of Oliveira’s mentality as a fighter? Who do you think wins between Oliveira and Gaethje? Who deserves the next title shot? The lightweight division is often said to be the hardest division amongst the entire UFC roster right now. You got Khabib Nurmagomedov’s former teammate and student Islam Makhachev who has not lost since 2015 and you got Beneil Dariush who’s on a 7-fight winning streak.
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Abhai Singh Tanwar
(1386 Articles Published)