Top UFC lightweight contender Charles Oliveira has been booked to compete in a grappling match against Cristiano Souza that will headline an upcoming Gold Talents BJJ event on August 6th, 2023. It’s a huge attraction for the event, as both men are popular in Brazil and Oliveira in particular has spent an entire career fighting at the highest levels of professional MMA all around the world. Oliveira is of course the most well-known out of the two, but Souza is a veteran grappler in his own right who runs his own academy and coaches several talented MMA fighters.
Although Souza has some great grappling skills of his own, a match against Charles Oliveira would be a huge challenge for even the most skilled BJJ black belts and wrestlers on the planet. Oliveira is a 3rd degree BJJ black belt and has used his incredible submissions skills to win dozens of MMA fights, including an incredible run through the UFC lightweight division that saw him become the world champion. Although he has since been submitted by Islam Makhachev and has lost the title, he has still established himself as one of the best fighters on the planet at that weight class.
In fact, he already has a rematch booked with Makhachev where he will attempt to regain his title and potentially set up a trilogy with the current champion. With that important match just 2 months away, it’s surprising that Oliveira would choose to risk suffering an injury in a grappling match. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see how Oliveira fares in the match and fans will no doubt enjoy getting another opportunity to see his talent on the mats once again.
The news that Charles Oliveira will be competing against Cristiano Souza in a grappling match in the main event of the next Gold Talents BJJ card on August 6th, 2023 was announced in a post to the promotion’s official Instagram account: