Ex-UFC Champ Charles Oliveira Names the One Career Loss He Wants to Avenge Most

From holding the UFC’s all-time submission record to winning the BMF title against Max Holloway at UFC 326 in March, Charles Oliveira has spent years proving he can bounce back from anything.

Along the way, "Do Bronx" has taken 11 losses across his 37-fight UFC career. But he has only ever been granted a rematch against two of those opponents, and he won both. With nine unfinished business remaining on his record, he has no shortage of targets.

Yet when recently asked to name the single loss he would rewrite if given only one chance, Oliveira looked past every other name and pointed straight to Islam Makhachev.

Charles Oliveira Points to Islam Makhachev as the One Rematch He Wants Most

Outside of settling his 11-year score with Holloway and avenging a 2010 defeat to Jim Miller at UFC on FOX 31, Oliveira's remaining losses include high-profile setbacks against Makhachev, Arman Tsarukyan, and Ilia Topuria.

That long list of rivals made Oliveira’s recent interview answer stand out even more. In the clip, originally posted by 209arthur on Instagram and shared by Championship Rounds on X, an interviewer asked, "If the UFC could give you one more fight that you could rematch in your career, what rematch would you take if it's one name?"

Without a second thought, the 37-year-old said, "Makhachev."

His desire to run that fight back dates to October 22, 2022, at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi. Five months earlier, Oliveira had been stripped of his lightweight belt after missing weight by half a pound before submitting Justin Gaethje at UFC 274.

When Oliveira stepped into the Octagon against Makhachev to reclaim his vacant throne, he was riding an 11-fight win streak and hadn't lost since 2017. Makhachev snapped that run decisively, locking in an arm-triangle choke at 3:16 of the second round to take the title outright.

Oliveira has pushed for the rematch before. After UFC 289 in June 2023, he said, "You want me to fight him in his house? I'll go. I'm ready. Let's do it." 

The two were booked for a rematch at UFC 294 that October, but a deep cut in sparring forced Oliveira to pull out days before the fight. He pushed for the matchup again after UFC 311 in January 2025, saying, "I'm next, and he knows that." 

But the Dagestian had already made it clear he wanted "some new challenge," and he soon left the lightweight division to move up to welterweight. Meanwhile, Oliveira's next test is a BMF title defense against Diego Lopes in the UFC 335 main event on December 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. 

He previously passed on a September rematch with Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 331 while grieving the loss of his friend and teammate Allan Nascimento. His absence left Tsarukyan to cement his status as a top contender for a title opportunity. 

Oliveira, however, enters UFC 335 on a two-fight winning streak. A victory over Lopes would push that run to three, putting him right back in the race for an undisputed lightweight title shot against Justin Gaethje, or potentially a vacant-title rematch with Tsarukyan if Gaethje retires.