Even after suffering a sequence of illegal scams, Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira won the rematch against Michael Chandler no UFC 309which took place on Saturday night (16), at Madison Square Garden, in New York.
The Brazilian returned to the Octagon six months after his defeat to Arman Tsarukyan with the aim of proving that he can still fight for the lightweight title — and he did.
Applauded by the New York public even against an American, Charles started the fight very aggressively and soon managed a takedown; During three minutes of dominance on the ground, the intensity of Chandler’s blows also decreased —of 27 connected in the first round, only four were significant.
Do Bronx maintained his intensity in the second round, so much so that Michael ran from him inside the octagon, but it was no use. The Brazilian took down his rival once again, got into mount and fired a sequence of elbows, completely dominating the fight.
Oliveira continued to control the octagon in the third stage, even with the American forcing a stand-up and connecting some blows. Charles responded with his “flying knees” and another takedown, used a triangle and attempted the submission, but Chandler resisted.
Without fighting for two years, the American still had momentum in the fourth round and went after the caiçara, who once again defended himself with knees, a new takedown and another submission attempt —In total, there were more than 12 minutes of Charles do Bronx’s dominance on the ground.
Chandler fires illegal blows at Charles from the Bronx
At a disadvantage in the first four rounds, Michael Chandler went for it all or nothing in the last round and managed to rock Oliveira with a punch and a sequence of connected blows already with the fight on the ground.
The problem, however, was that the American fired several blows to the back of Charles’ head, which is considered illegal in the UFC. Even so, the judge preferred not to interfere. In addition to hitting the Brazilian in the back of the head, Chandler also grabbed his gloves, grabbed the railing and put a finger in his eye — all without any warning.
In the final minutes, do Bronx managed to defend himself with a leg triangle and got up only to get his fifth takedown of the duel. Michael got up, but the Brazilian didn’t leave his back.
At the end of the five rounds, the three judges unanimously decided that Charles would win.