Put Some Respect on Charles Oliveira's Name After UFC 269 Title Defense

It's long past time to give Charles Oliveira the respect he deserves.

The reigning UFC lightweight champion was back in action in the main event of the stacked UFC 269 card on Saturday night in Las Vegas, where he defended his belt with a third-round submission win over No. 1-ranked lightweight contender Dustin Poirier.

It was easily the most impressive victory of the Brazilian's 40-fight MMA career, and one that cemented him as the true king of the UFC's deepest division.

Yet heading into the fight, Oliveira was widely discounted by fans, oddsmakers and pundits alike, this crow-eating writer included. The problem wasn't that so many people were picking against Oliveira—Poirier is as dangerous as they come—but the way people were talking about him. As ever, there were widespread questions about the his toughness, heart and general ability against any kind of adversity in the Octagon.

The 32-year-old answered those questions emphatically on the night.

Poirier was on the attack through much of the first round, wobbling Oliveira with punches on more than one occasion. By the time the round concluded, it felt like the challenger was right on the cusp of victory.

Oliveira deftly turned things around in the second, though, grounding Poirier with an early takedown and spending almost the entirety of the round in top position. His momentum continued into the third, when he took his foe's back and, before long, got the tap.

"I don't care what people say. I mean, look at what they've been saying about me," Oliveira told the media at the UFC 269 post-fight press conference. "They say I can't take hits. Look at what I've been doing. They say I quit. Look at what I've been doing. So I'm just going to continue to do what I do."

"It was a lot of study early on [against Poirier]," he added. "But as I said, I was going to have my arm raised, and that's what happened.

"I defended what's mine."

On the surface, Oliveira's gutsy, come-from-behind win looks more than enough to silence those who would question his resolve. Then again, maybe not. He put forth a similar performance in his previous fight, surviving an early knockdown to score a title-winning knockout against Michael Chandler in May, and he was still hounded by skeptics ahead of UFC 269.

If history is any indication, he'll be widely discounted again ahead of his next fight, whether the opponent is a top contender like Justin Gaethje, Beneil Dariush, or Islam Makhachev, or a wild card such as Conor McGregor.

It's hard to say why fans and pundits have always been so willing to count Oliveira out and unwilling to acknowledge the strides he's made both physically and mentally, because pretty much all of the evidence available suggests we should be doing the opposite.

The lightweight champion is now on a 10-fight unbeaten streak, which is tied for the 10th-longest run in UFC history. That includes wins over the likes of Poirier, Chandler, Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee. All but three of his eight losses have come against former UFC champions or title challengers. He holds the records for most finishes in UFC history, at 18 and most submission wins in UFC history, at 15.

Oliveira and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone share the record for the most post-fight bonuses in UFC history, at 18. He's ninth all-time for total UFC fights, at 29, and fifth all-time for total UFC wins, at 20. He's attempted the second-most submission attempts in UFC history, behind Jim Miller, at 38.

"I want to make history," he said post-fight. "I want to build a legacy. I want to show people that I can."

Oliveira extends his chapter in the MMA history books with every appearance, yet he has thus far failed to gain the confidence of the masses. Time will tell if his impressive title defense against Poirier finally changes that. It will be disappointing if it doesn't, but the good news is that he isn't fazed one way or the other.

"I don't care," Oliveira said. "I come here and I do it. I'm not on the Internet. I'm not on Twitter. I'm not on Facebook trying to show people what's going on. I'm here. I'm the champion. I have this belt. I'm going to keep defending it. I don't care what people say. I'm going to do me."