Charles Oliveira explains why he won’t trash talk Islam Makhachev ahead of UFC 294 rematch: “I made a mistake”

Charles Oliveira says he won’t be trash-talking Islam Makhachev ahead of their rematch like he did in the first fight.

Oliveira and Makhachev fought last October and it was the Dagestani native who won by second-round submission in a one-sided fight. It was a coming-out party of sorts for Makhachev, but Oliveira admits he didn’t fight to his ability.

According to Charles Oliveira, he believes the trash talk got the best of him as he fought emotionally so in the rematch at UFC 294 he won’t be trash-talking Islam Makhachev at all.

“That’s the only fight I talked crap, the fight against Islam,” Charles Oliveira said on MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca podcast. “I made a mistake. I won’t make that mistake again. We can only make mistakes once in life. When you make a mistake once, you can’t do it a second time, otherwise you’ll go down nonstop. I won’t do it again.

“If you look at all of my fights, you’ll see that night I didn’t fight 10 percent of what I can do. Not a hater, not an analyst that is constantly saying crap, but people that understand fighting. If you watch everything I’ve said for all my fights, the only one where I’ve [gone outside my norm] a little bit and said some things, talked some crap, was the one against Islam, and I won’t make that mistake again,” Oliveira added.

If Charles Oliveira does fight as he usually does, he believes he will have a lot of success and be able to hand Islam Makhachev a loss to reclaim the belt.

“We want to make history,” Oliveira said. “Islam is very tough, deserves all respect in the world, he’s evolving immensely, but I have a dream. I want to become champion again. I want to continue making history, showing the kids from the favela that if you truly believe in something you can win in life. We’re here to break records.”

Should Oliveira get the win over Makhachev at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi, he hopes his next fight can be at home in Brazil.