Charles Oliviera finally has a new opponent.
The former UFC lightweight champion announced on Tuesday that he’s accepted a matchup against Mateusz Gamrot in the main event for UFC Rio coming up on Oct. 11.
“Opponent: Mateusz Gamrot,” Oliveira said on social media. “This is the guy we’re going to battle in a great war. The rest just wanted the hype, just wanted to stall and talk but that’s part of it, that’s how it is.
“Mateusz Gamrot, thank you for accepting the fight. It’s going to be a big war! The
lion is hungry. I’m full of willpower. We’ll meet on Oct. 11.”
The change comes after Rafael Fiziev was forced off the card due to injury, resulting in a scramble to find Oliveira a new opponent.
Gamrot immediately volunteered and continued pushing for the fight until he finally got the call from the UFC with the offer.
The former KSW champion comes into the fight with a 4-1 resume in his past five outings, with his only loss coming a split decision against Dan Hooker. Outside of that lone blemish, Gamrot has scored wins over Ludovit Klein, Rafael dos Anjos, Rafael Fiziev, and Jalin Turner.
After sitting on the shelf for nine months, Gamrot finally returned to action in May, scoring a unanimous decision win over Klein. Now he’ll face the biggest test of his UFC career.
It’s also a pivotal fight for Oliveira as he looks to bounce back from a stunning knockout loss to Ilia Topuria in a vacant lightweight title bout back in June. Overall, Oliveira has gone 3-3 in his past six fights, with wins over the likes of Michael Chandler and Beneil Dariush, and losses coming to Arman Tsarukyan and Islam Makhachev.
Oliveira now faces Gamrot in the new main event for UFC Rio, with the rest of the bout order for the card still to be determined.
