It looks like the long-awaited fight between Charles Oliveira and Mateusz Gamrot is finally going ahead, as Gamrot has stepped in as a late replacement to face Oliveira in the main event of UFC Rio on October 11th, 2025. Both men only have a few weeks to prepare for each other, but at least Oliveira has been in a fight camp up until now. Oliveira was originally scheduled to face Rafael Fiziev at the event but Fiziev had to withdraw due to an undisclosed injury, and that left UFC matchmakers scrambling to keep Oliveira on the card in his home country.
Originally it looked as though they might not be able to do so, as there weren’t any other fighters coming forward and Oliveira wasn’t actually too keen on the idea of fighting Gamrot. His preparation up until this point was based around fighting a striker, but Gamrot is an incredibly talented grappler with solid wrestling. Although he presents a completely different challenge to Fiziev, Oliveira is still one of the best grapplers in MMA and he holds the record for most submission finishes in UFC history. It’s tough to predict exactly how he will approach the fight, as he could choose to try to outstrike Gamrot or rely on his Jiu-Jitsu to win the fight on the ground.
Gamrot also has the option of striking with Oliveira of course, and it wouldn’t be the first time that two elite grapplers have chosen to have a striking match instead of risking being beaten at their own game. If he does choose to go to the ground against Oliveira then he will have to be very wary of his lethal guard, but it’s not as if Oliveira hasn’t been submitted before. It’s a big opportunity for both men, as Oliveira is looking to bounce back into title-contention and Gamrot is trying to work his way into the first title-shot of his UFC career.
UFC Brasil announced the news that Charles Oliveira would face Mateusz Gamrot in the main event of UFC Rio in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DO_pf4ZiHXN/?igsh=MWYzNjlhMXUyN29tMg==
