Charles Oliveira is one of the biggest names in Brazil when it comes to MMA and he’s just started to campaign for the UFC to put together a stadium show in his home-country. It’s a pretty big request, but if the promotion can fill out a gigantic venue like that then they’d make a lot of money from it too. It’s something that they’ve historically avoided doing though, likely because of the higher costs involved and doubts that they’d be able to sell out the venue. There aren’t many Brazilian fighters more popular than Oliveira right now though, and he’d definitely be a huge boost to a stadium show.
The topic came up after he submitted Mateusz Gamrot at UFC Rio and when he was asked about the idea of returning, he was confident about the prospect of filling the seats:
“In a stadium. You can put me as the main event, I’m totally sure we can fill it. I’m the biggest name in the UFC today in Brazil.”
Oliveira isn’t the only big-name Brazilian in the UFC of course, and they would all no doubt love to compete in front of tens of thousands of their fellow countrymen. There was one name in particular that stood out for Oliveira though:
“Of course, there’s other great names. Can you imagine doing a card with Charles Oliveira and Poatan? That’d be huge, so if you wanna make history. I think that Brazilian people deserve it. We deserve it, not a small Fight Night but a huge event.”
He’s not wrong either, Alex Pereira is incredibly popular both in Brazil and all around the world. He would also have the advantage of bringing a title to the table, as he recently regained the light-heavyweight world championship. Pereira has also discussed the idea of moving up to the heavyweight division in an attempt to become the first person to win titles in three different weight classes. A champion vs champion superfight where one man could make history and the man with the most UFC finishes ever would make for the ideal double-header for a Brazilian stadium show.
The full interview with Charles Oliveira where he calls for a stadium show in Brazil was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of the UFC:
