It’s no longer 1996, so we can safely assume that every fighter in the top levels of the UFC knows what Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is. Not only this, but they quite clearly have a very good understanding of how it works, regularly train grappling on the floor and are a very high level practitioner themselves.
However, despite all of this, Charles Oliveira has managed to plow through the entire Lightweight division of the UFC and has by far the most submissions in the promotions history (15) despite still being no where near the end of his career. Oliveira is not fighting cans and still manages to make his opponents tap, despite them being very experienced grapplers.
This goes to show that the term “BJJ black belt” is too simplified and has many layers to it. There are thousands of BJJ black belts, all who are legitimate, but there are very few who can apply this to MMA and still have a great deal of success, with Oliveira being the best of a very select group.
Table of Contents
Starting Posture
When analysing the regular stance of Charles Oliveira, many would be surprised since he does not posture like a traditional grappler. Part of this is due to his excellent striking ability, which has stopped the likes of Michael Chandler and Jared Gordon without the need for a submission.
However, perhaps the main reason why Oliveira stands so upright is due to the fact that he does not care too much about being double legged. Oliveira will not just give his opponent a takedown for free, but he does not resist as much as other fighters since he is so comfortable from guard. Many of Oliveira’s fights have had takedowns for the opponent, only to be butterfly swept straight back to bottom position. Not only this, but Oliveira is also a master of both the guillotine and anaconda choke, so a sloppy takedown always puts the opponent at risk of being submitted by the time they reach the canvas.
In short, Oliveira is not as bothered by takedowns compared to 99% of the UFC roster. Clearly he does not want to be taken down, but is certainly not panicked when it does happen.
Chaining Submission Attempts
Anyone who has trained BJJ past the level of blue belt will know that a key part of getting submissions in the sport is by chaining submissions attempts together. Whilst you can set up a single attempt and get it the very first time you try, against seasoned opponents this can be difficult since they know exactly what is coming next.
By chaining attacks together, it forces the opponent to defend too many things at once until they have no defenses left. This is somewhat easy to do in BJJ, but takes another level of skill completely in MMA. Many of Oliveira’s submissions come whilst he is being repeatedly punched in the face by an opponent. Obviously throwing up one submission attack after another from the bottom is very difficult whilst under such pressure and not something many fighters want to try.
The relentlessness of Oliveira’s attacks allow him to stop opponents rather than choosing to push the opponent away and reset to a stand-up position.
Remaining On The Ground
Another key factor of why Charles Oliveira has such a successful submission record in the UFC is due to his time spent on the ground.
When the average fighter is taken down, the first thing they are thinking about is returning back to their feet. Since being in bottom position in an MMA fight is so disadvantageous – this makes logical sense.
Charles Oliveira is the exception to this rule since he will somewhat rarely look to stand back up. He will try to turtle and stand up from bottom side control, but from his guard he will look for a sweep or simply try to come up for a takedown reversal of his own.
The key point here is that Oliveira very seldom lets a fight reset to a striking contest if he can help it. He knows that once a fight hits the floor, this is where he is most dangerous. Therefore he tries his best to keep it there. Of course it goes without saying that whilst a fight is on the ground, there is a much higher chance of submission victory when compared to a standing position.
Relatively Little Ground & Pound
Compared to almost every other UFC fighter, Charles Oliveira throws relatively little strikes from positions such as mount and side control.
This is not to say that he does not intend to win fights by ground and pound, but his style is somewhat unusual. Oliveira is not a fighter who favours a high posture when in mount or passing guard. Due to his low head positioning, he makes himself a little more vunerable to guillotine chokes, as well as not giving himself enough distance to throw strikes.
There are however a great number of positives that come from this low pressure style of passing guards. Firstly it gives the opponent no chance of recovering back to a stand up position since Oliveira is always so close to them on the ground. Secondly, even though he cannot throw too many strikes, he is able to advance his positioning on the body and control the fight.
To summarise, Oliveira gives up a little in terms of ground and pound in order to assault his opponent with a series of submissions instead.
Excellent Submission Defence
One overlooked factor of Oliveira’s BJJ is his own submission defence. Whilst Oliveira has been tapped 3 times, the last of these was in 2016 in a career that has spanned 40 fights.
On the ground, Oliveira is a very scambly fighter, so will often give his back to opponents. This is certainly not a good thing since everyone who watches or trains MMA knows that this is a place where you offer no offense and can easily be choked. Despite this though, the defense of Oliveira is so good that he has never tapped to a rear naked choke even when he is in a seemingly horrible position.
By extending fights and shrugging off both triangle and armbar attacks with ease, Oliveira is commonly able to pass in to better positions and get the best of his opponents from the top. As a result of not getting tapped whilst keeping the fights on the floor, Oliveira once again gives himself the best possible chance of getting a submission of his own.
Conclusion
As you can see. It is not one or two factors about Charles Oliveira that cause his BJJ to be so dominant, even when applied against the highest levels of opposition.
His entire style is suited towards MMA style grappling, with his sweeps and submissions being second to none.
It is unclear whether this was a natural progression towards a style which has been so effective, or whether he learnt and adapted from his past mistakes and made a general move towards becoming a submission based finisher.
Either way, there has been noone quite like Charles Oliveira in the UFC. It will be a very long time before someone gets close to his submission win total – especially considering he is no where near retirement.
