Born: October 17, 1989 (Age: 33) in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Division: Lightweight
Height: 5’10”
Reach: 74”
Record: 33-8 (21-8 UFC)
Association: Chute Boxe Diego Lima
Stage of Career: Prime
Summary: Oliveira is one of the most absurdly skilled and complete
fighters in MMA history. Not only is he possibly MMA’s greatest
Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner ever, but he is also an
outstanding wrestler and has developed some top-shelf striking. He
is a virtuoso technically, but he also has tremendous natural
fluidity and is absurdly accurate and sudden with his movements,
not to mention fast and powerful with his strikes. He has a slew of
powerful punches to rival that of a world-class boxer, devastating
kicks that rank among the best in the sport, an insanely good knee
at range and phenomenal movement. He only gets more dangerous in
the grappling department. Always a step or two ahead of his
opponents, Oliveira can easily submit even the best grapplers with
his guillotine or rear-naked choke. Additionally, he is an
outstanding wrestler with brutally heavy hips for top control and
vicious ground-and-pound. Formerly a weakness, his cardio is now
outstanding. Plus, he recovers well from blows and operates with
exceptional intelligence. The only mild weakness? His defense is
merely good, meaning it can potentially be punctured.
STRIKING
• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Fast; noticeably above average.
• Jab: Technical, accurate and fairly hard.
• Cross: Accurate, powerful and sudden, it represents everything
you could want in the punch.
• Left Hook: Carries a tight arc and plenty of rotation, and he
loves to throw it to the body.
• Right Hook: Sneaky and short, with a very tight arc and plenty of
power. He can catch opponents coming in with the punch, as he did
against
Jared
Gordon.
• Overhand Right: Rarely uses it.
• Uppercuts: Technical, tight, accurate, sudden and powerful.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: More of a one-shot sniper,
though he throws combinations when openings materialize.
• Favorite Combination(s): The one-two, which he throws with skill
and fluidity.
• Leg Kicks: Fast, sudden and quite powerful.
• Body Kicks: Carries similar properties to those he throws to the
legs. He can also score with a fantastic front kick to the
midsection.
• Head Kicks: Effective but slightly more telegraphed than those he
throws to the body and legs.
• Knees: Dynamic, fast, powerful and accurate.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.
It is jaw-dropping that Oliveira, who does not come from a
striking background, now has much better standup than many
world-class kickboxers in MMA. He is outstanding at every single
punch he uses, from his laser jab and his tremendous right cross to
textbook hooks from either hand and an incredible right uppercut.
His kicks—including his awesome front kick to the body—are jarring
and sudden, ranking among the best in the sport. Oliveira also
features a knee at range which seems endlessly dynamic, powerful
and accurate. His footwork and movement around the cage are
phenomenal, often making it appear that he covers space at a
different rate of speed than others. His defense, perhaps his only
true weakness, is good but not great, though he blocks well and
utilizes evasive head movement.
CLINCH
• Physical Strength: He has bullied multiple opponents in close
quarters.
• Technique: Every movement appears textbook perfect.
• Knees: Hard, accurate and thrown at a constant rate.
• Elbows: Rarely throws them.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Few people are willing to engage
him, his offensive weapons and strength serving as deterrents.
Oliveira is ridiculously strong in the clinch relative to what
one may expect, and few—if any—can rival his technique. He pelts
opponents with powerful knees while in tight spaces and often
avoids being hit by any return fire.
GRAPPLING
• Wrestling from a Shot: Uses a fast, technical double-leg that he
can turn into an outside trip or a lift if he so desires.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Another category in which he excels. He
grounded
Myles Jury
from a lift into an outside trip and easily picked up and slammed
Jim
Miller. Oliveira took down
Tony
Ferguson at will. Those efforts included a waistlock lift into
a slam, a caught kick for a takedown and a double-leg lift into a
slam.
• Takedown Defense: Stellar. A beautiful guillotine counter with an
insane squeeze highlights his methods, as he has finished
experience grapplers like Jury,
Clay Guida and
Kevin
Lee with the maneuver. Lee managed to hit a perfectly timed
double-leg against him in reaction to a knee strike and later took
him down with a body lock into an outside trip. However, it
requires considerable effort and skill to get Oliveira to the
mat.
• Ability to Return to His Feet: Incredibly athletic with his hip
escapes as long as his cardio lasts, and he is plenty dangerous off
his back.
• Submissions: Among the best in the sport’s history. Fluid with
his movements, and he anticipates his opponents’ tactics and
counters them as they begin. Beyond his legendary guillotine, he
favors the rear-naked choke and has proven absolutely phenomenal at
finishing with it, pairing an ability to change grips and arm
positioning with a crushing squeeze.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Phenomenal so long
as he can avoid ground-and-pound; a never-ending, incredibly quick
series of submission attempts, transitions and sweeps, always one
or two steps ahead of the opponent, and impossible to keep up with.
However, can get discouraged and even give up if he receives heavy
ground-and-pound.
• Top Control: All-time great, with incredibly heavy hips.
• Ground-and-Pound: Pairs powerful, accurate elbows with damaging,
accurate punches he manages to snake through, all while using his
body well.
Oliveira is one of the very best grapplers MMA has ever seen,
and possibly the best at applying BJJ to it. He is a monster with
takedowns in the clinch, and once there, he is a terror on top,
able to dissect prey with brutal ground-and-pound or easily slice
through their guard and finish with possibly the most dangerous RNC
in combat sports. Oh, and his brutally heavy hips make getting back
up almost impossible. From his back, he is generally outstanding
with a never-ending, hyper-fast series of submission attempts,
transitions and sweeps, always a step or two ahead of his
opponents, which applies to him on the ground in general. However,
if his foe inflicts heavy ground-and-pound, Oliveira can become
discouraged, which was evident against Felder as well as Makhachev.
Taking down Oliveira is immensely hard, but keeping him there, or
avoiding the sweeps and subs off his back is even harder.
INTANGIBLES
• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: Shockingly strong and
boasts fluid, athletic movements.
• Cardio: Formerly a weakness but now excellent, allowing him to
fight at a breakneck pace against certain opponents while barely
slowing down in the third round.
• Chin: Formidable, though he can be hurt, like any other fighter,
by particularly strong connections.
• Recuperative Powers: Able to weather the storm when in serious
trouble.
• Intelligence: Makes consistently good decisions, shows
improvement from fight to fight and seems to always notice when an
opening exists to transition away from the standup and use his
world-class grappling.