Charles Oliveira admits that he thought about quitting MMA, but glad he didn’t: “Looking back, I see it was all worth it”

New UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira admits that he thought about quitting MMA, but he’s glad that he chose to stay the course.

It took Oliveira 11 years to reach the top of the mountain in the UFC, and along the way, he admits that he thought about stepping away from the sport. Though he’s clearly one of the most talented fighters in the game, it wasn’t always like that. In fact, at many points in time, he questioned his ability to make it as a fighter in one of the world’s toughest sports.

Speaking to Super Lutas, Oliveira explained what he felt like at the beginning of his career and why he’s so glad that he decided to stick with it and make MMA into his career.

“I already thought about giving up, at the very beginning. Looking back, I see how much it was worth going through everything I went through to get here. Everything I have been through, sums up what I ask everyone today. People say: ‘I want to be a fighter’. Are you willing to train? Today I ask: ‘Are you willing to pay the price?’. It is not a low price. It is a very high price. When you are ‘nobody’, you have to leave your family, friends, party, woman, everything, in search of a dream,” Oliveira said. “The same way I want it, there are two, three million more who want it. When you start to shine, you bother. Unfortunately, this is the bad thing about human beings. When you bother, there are people who don’t want your good. It is a painful price.”

Did you ever expect Charles Oliveira to have what it takes to become the UFC lightweight champion, or was him making a run to the belt a big surprise?