Charles Oliveira silenced a lot of doubt on Saturday by submitting Mateusz Gamrot as the UFC made its return to Brazil.
The former lightweight champion was at a crossroads after being knocked out by Ilia Topuria and being out of the title picture.
The 35-year-old found himself in a familiar position, taking the back of Gamrot in the second round and executing a face crank to force the trap, and extended his UFC record for most finishes and submissions.
Oliveria, who began his UFC career in 2010 at age 20, recorded his seventeenth submission and twenty-first win for the promotion and staying afloat in the 155-pound mix as he improves to 36-11 with one no-contest.
Gamrot entered the fight having won four of his last five fights and boasting a resume of wins against Arman Tsarukyan, Rafael Fiziev, and former champion Rafael dos Anjos. The submission marks the first time Gamrot has been stopped in his thirteen-year pro career.
After the fight, Oliveira issued a challenge to Max Holloway.
Deiveson Figueiredo stopped the hype train of Montel Jackson, who came into Rio de Janeiro riding a six-fight win streak going back to 2021. It was a narrow fight as the former flyweight champion earned the split decision with the three judges in agreement that Figueiredo won the second round, and Jackson the third, but were split on the opening five minutes.
Figueiredo, 37, saw renewed life when coming up to the weight division by rattling off three consecutive wins, but ran into a wall with the division’s upper class, posting losses to Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen.
Joel Álvarez took a fight on short notice with Vicente Luque after Santiago Ponzinibbio was injured. The natural lightweight accepted the fight at 170 pounds and extended his win streak to four with a strong decision win and 30-26 scores across the board. Álvarez has won eight of his ten UFC fights, and his last loss was to Arman Tsarukyan in 2022.
The prelims included the UFC debut of multi-time BJJ world champion Beatriz Mesquita, who was the largest favorite on the card, submitting Irina Alekseeva in the second round and taking one of four Performance of the Night bonuses.
Former title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz lost her third consecutive fight via TKO to Julia Polastri as the 39-year-old falls to 16-10. It continues a roller coaster career for Kowalkiewicz, who previously lost five fights in a row in the UFC but came back to her next four before this current losing skid. The win gave Polastri an extra $50,000 bonus, as well.
Vitor Petrino was another bonus recipient after knocking out Thomas Peterson in the opening seconds of the third round in their heavyweight bout.
The UFC returns to Canada next Saturday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, headlined by a middleweight fight between rising contender Reinier de Ridder and replacement Brendan Allen, who takes the spot from Anthony Hernandez.
RESULTS:
*Charles Oliveira def. Mateusz Gamrot by face crank at 2:48 of Round 2
*Deiveson Figueiredo def. Montel Jackson by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*Joel Álvarez def. Vicente Luque by unanimous decision (30-26 all)
*Mário Pinto def. Jhonata Diniz by TKO at 4:10 of Round 2
*Kaan Ofli def. Ricardo Ramos by rear-naked choke at 3:02 of Round 1
*Michael Aswell def. Lucas Almeida by TKO at 1:42 of Round 1
*Jafel Filho def. Clayton Carpenter by Kimura at 4:42 of Round 1
*Vitor Petrino def. Thomas Peterson by KO at 0:26 of Round 3
*Beatriz Mesquita def. Irina Alekseeva by rear-naked choke at 2:14 of Round 2
*Lucas Rocha def. Stewart Nicoll by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Julia Polastri def. Karolina Kowalkiewicz by TKO at 2:56 of Round 3
*Luan Lacerda def. Saimon Oliveira by armbar at 3:55 of Round 2
