Matuesz Gamrot took his shot but missed after accepting a short notice opportunity to face Charles Oliveira in the UFC Rio amin event but ultimately suffered a second-round submission loss.
The veteran welterweight asked for the fight after Oliveira’s original opponent Rafael Fiziev pulled out with an injury. Unfortunately, Gamrot came up short in a grappling exchange after Oliveira snatched a nasty rear-naked choke that forced the tap.
It was the first time in Gamrot’s career he’s ever been finished.
“We win together, we lose together,” Gamrot’s head coach Mike Brown wrote in a statement on Instagram. “I’m truly heartbroken for my friend Mateusz Gamrot but I always admire his courageousness. Gamrot is not afraid of big challenges and taking big risks. He landed in Florida three weeks ago to started his training camp for a UFC headliner scheduled on November 8. His second day in America he heard the news of Fiziev pulling out of his fight with Charles Oliviera. So like the soldier wanting to go to battle he campaigned hard for the opportunity to fight the Brazilian legend. A few days later he secured the fight.
“So Mateus trained hard for about 12 days and jumped on a plane to Brazil and took his shot. It’s always a gamble every time you step in the cage and this time the gamble didn’t pay off. The fight didn’t go our way but Gamrot still maintains that same warrior spirit and his passion like no other. He is truly one of a kind.”
Gamrot had complained about inactivity in recent months after he suffered a loss to Dan Hooker back in August 2024 and didn’t compete again until May 2025. He picked up a win over Ludovit Klein and his coach says he was supposed to take the main event spot on the upcoming UFC APEX event on Nov. 8, which is now headlined by welterweights Gabriel Bonfim and Randy Brown.
As soon as Oliviera lost his opponent for this past Saturday night’s card, Gamrot immediately threw his name into the hat as a potential replacement.
He eventually got the fight but things didn’t go his way with Oliveira scoring the submission win.
“I think the fans have great respect for his willingness to fight anywhere under any circumstance,” Brown wrote about Gamrot. “In 30 professional fights this was the first time he was ever finished. When you are fighting the absolute best fighters on planet earth this is a possibility and bound to happen eventually. Charles himself is a legend and a former champion yet he too has stumbled in the past.
“My point is I still believe in Mateus and still believe he can be champion one day. It was a tough loss and a hard pill to swallow but all we can do at this point is get better. We can always get better.”
Gamrot has called American Top Team in Florida his home for several years now and he routinely travels and lives in the gym during his training camps away from his family back in Poland.
Obviously he didn’t get the win on Saturday but Gamrot remains one of the top lightweights in the UFC and he’ll look to bounce back when he eventually makes his return to action.
