Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira headlines the promotion’s return to Brazil on Saturday.
It will be the UFC’s first card in the country since UFC 301 in May 2024, as Oliveira will step into the octagon for the thirty-sixth time and tying Neil Magny and Rafael dos Anjos for fifth on the all-time list.
Standing across from the former champion is Mateusz Gamrot (25-3, 1 NC), who has won four of his last five fights with victories against Jalin Turner, Rafael Fiziev, Rafael dos Anjos, and L’udovit Klein during that run since March 2023.
Oliveira (35-11, 1 NC) competed against Ilia Topuria for the vacant lightweight belt at UFC 317 in June and was knocked out in 2:27 by the surging star, who was coming up in weight and winning gold in a second division.
The Brazilian native owns the record for most UFC finishes (20) and submissions (16), but is facing a competitor in Gamrot, who has never been stopped in his nearly fourteen-year career.
The questions attached to this fight include the mileage on Oliveira and whether Gamrot will engage in a ground battle with the submission specialist. Gamrot averages 5.33 takedowns per fifteen-minute fight while possessing a 90% takedown defense rate. Oliveira remains one of the slickest submission fighters in the division, even if his tenure as a championship competitor appears on thin ice after the loss to Topuria.
Gamrot will enter the fight ranked eighth in the UFC’s rankings, and Oliveira will be sitting in the fourth spot. Oddsmakers see this as a pick ‘em with FanDuel, Caesars, and BetMGM listing both at -110.
Former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo (24-5-1) will attempt to bounce back from consecutive losses as he continues his bantamweight campaign against Montel Jackson (15-2).
Figueiredo moved up in weight two years ago and won fights against Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt, and Marlon Vera until reaching the contenders of the class and losing by decision to Petr Yan and being stopped by Cory Sandhagen.
Jackson was a signing from Dana White’s Contender Series seven years ago and quietly amassed a 9-2 record in the promotion and won his past six fights. After back-to-back KO wins, he earned a decision against Daniel Marcos in May and steps up to fight the most significant name he’s ever faced, but is listed as a healthy favorite at -340 on FanDuel.
The main card includes Joel Álvarez and Vicente Luque in a welterweight contest, with the former entering as the second-largest favorite on the card.
Álvarez (22-3) joined the UFC in 2019 and went 7-2 in the lightweight division, but is taking this fight at welterweight after replacing Santiago Ponzinibbio on short notice and looking to extend his win streak to four.
Luque (23-11-1) has only managed a 2-4 record since 2022 and was submitted by Kevin Holland in his last fight in June at UFC 316.
During Friday’s weigh-ins, there was one major miss as Saimon Oliveira was 144 pounds and missed the bantamweight limit by eight pounds. MMA Junkie notes the fighter was fined 50% of his purse for the large miss.
MAIN CARD (7 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Charles Oliveira (35-11, 1 NC) vs. Mateusz Gamrot (25-3, 1 NC)
*Deiveson Figueiredo (24-5-1) vs. Montel Jackson (15-2)
*Joel Álvarez (22-3) vs. Vicente Luque (23-11-1)
*Jhonata Diniz (9-1) vs. Mario Pinto (10-0)
*Ricardo Ramos (17-7) vs. Kaan Ofli (11-4-1)
*Lucas Almeida (15-4) vs. Michael Aswell (10-3)
PRELIMINARY CARD (4 p.m. on ESPN+)
*Jafel Filho (16-4) vs. Clayton Carpenter (8-1)
*Thomas Petersen (10-3) vs. Vitor Petrino (12-2)
*Beatriz Mesquita (5-0) vs. Irina Alekseeva (5-3)
*Lucas Rocha (17-2) vs. Stewart Alekseeva (8-1)
*Karolina Kowalkiewicz (16-9) vs. Julia Polastri (13-5)
*Luan Lacerda (12-3) vs. Saimon Oliveira (18-6)
