Charles
Oliveira was scared that his career was over after a mysterious
injury in his first fight against Max
Holloway.
Holloway (27-8) will put his BMF title on the line in a rematch
against Oliveira (36-11) in the main event at
UFC 326 on March 7 in Las Vegas. The two lightweights had met
for the first time more than a decade ago in a featherweight
matchup in 2015. Oliveira was in visible agony after an attempted
takedown in the opening round. While “do Bronx” got back to his
feet, he kept holding his neck in pain, forcing the referee to step
in.
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Back then the injury was deemed to be an esophageal tear. However,
Oliveira believes most people couldn’t explain his injury. The
Brazilian recently revealed that he lost sensation on his left side
following the injury, leading to talks of paralysis. Oliveira
couldn’t even feel the IV drip on his left arm inside the
ambulance. The future lightweight champion admits being scared that
his career was over.
Grave Concerns
“I lost movement on my left side,” Oliveira recently told New York Post Sports. “I think a lot of people
didn’t know how to explain what it was, so they talked about the
esophagus and all of that but it was an injury to my neck. There
were talks that I could’ve been paralyzed… In the ambulance, the
guys were trying to put an IV in my arm, and I wouldn’t even feel
it because I couldn’t feel my left side, so I was scared my career
was over at that moment.”
Both Holloway and Oliveira have firmly cemented themselves as
UFC stars over the last decade. Holloway is coming off a win
over Dustin
Poirier that saw him rebound from a knockout loss against
Ilia
Topuria. Meanwhile, Oliveira is coming off a win over Mateusz
Gamrot that also saw him rebound from a loss against
Topuria.