Roberto ‘Satoshi’ De Souza is one of the best fighters on the RIZIN FF roster, while Charles Oliveira holds a similar position in the UFC. Long before either man embarked on his professional MMA journey though, they were actually rivals on the local BJJ scene. They met several times during their journey through the colored belts but that was a very long time ago, and quite a lot has changed since then. Oliveira has had a stint as the UFC Lightweight world champion, while Satoshi has managed to amass an incredible 14-1 professional MMA record.
Satoshi most recently avenged his only loss by submitting Johnny Case at RIZIN 35 while Oliveira was unfortunately stripped of his UFC title for missing weight, only to submit Justin Gaethje immediately afterward. While the chances of the two men meeting in MMA are looking very slim right now, it’s certainly a fight that grappling fans would salivate at seeing on any card. Although promotions might get in the way, one of them is certainly interested in the fight at least.
Roberto Satoshi recently spoke to representatives of MMAMania.com on BROADENED HORIZIN, and he had this to say about Charles Oliveira:
“I fought him in Jiu-Jitsu when I was a blue belt. I fought him I think six times but really, his weight division was one under mine. Sometimes he’d come into my division just to fight me. When I fight him at blue belt, he was already a very dangerous guy. He and I have a very nice friendship now. Sometimes I talk to him, sometimes his coach motivates me when I’m going to fight. I think it’s hard if one day I have a chance to fight him, I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to fight him, you know. He motivates me a lot because he’s very strong, he’s very good but people still don’t believe in him, too. I feel this is similar to me. Maybe one day just to make money, for sure. I want to show to the world I can strike like a Charles ‘Do Bronx,’ too.”
Roberto Satoshi doesn’t just want to fight Charles Oliveira though, he went on to explain that he’s interested in fighting other people who hold titles in major MMA promotions too:
“I want to fight the top fighters in the world. I always say I want to go to the top, not what’s in the back. I like fighting the top guys, it’s harder, for sure. But I have more motivation in training. I like the fights where people don’t believe in me. People say, ‘Ah, for sure he doesn’t want this fight.’ I like that. I like when I’m the underdog. I want to fight the Bellator guys too, you know? Whatever, whoever. The double title shot is so fun, the RIZIN belt, the Bellator belt. For me, whatever. I just want to fight the best guys in the world.”
