Gallery Charles Oliveira def. David Teymur at UFC on ESPN+ 2: Best photos view 25 images

FORTALEZA, Brazil – After some confusion as to his divisional plans, Charles Oliveira is turning his attention to a lightweight target.

This past Saturday, at UFC on ESPN+ 2, Oliveira continued to add to his record of most submissions in UFC history with a stunning second-round finish of David Teymur. It was not only Oliveira’s fifth win since multiple weight misses forced him out of featherweight, but also his fifth bonus-winning performance.

Despite his 155-pound success, Oliveira had repeatedly talked about his desire to return to featherweight. After his last win, in a rematch with Jim Miller, he’d even called out 145-pound champ Max Holloway – though later he said he would welcome it at lightweight.

Now on a four-fight winning streak, however, Oliveira has his sights on a fighter who’s already a standout in his current weight class.

“I want to fight a top-5 in the division,” Oliveira said backstage at Centro de Formacao Olimpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil. “I think, out of those, only Kevin Lee is unbooked. If he wants to fight, it can be wherever he wants, and if it’s in April that’s even better.

“I’m ready both on the feet and on the ground. This fight will be a war. He’s a guy who strikes a little, takes them down. It will be a war. If the UFC likes this fight, I’m ready.”

Oliveira (26-8 MMA, 14-8 UFC) is right in that Lee (17-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is in the top-5 of the UFC’s official rankings and that he is unbooked. It’s worth noting, however, that that is also the case with the other four fighters in those top positions – not to mention the champ, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

We’ll see if that pans out. But, in any case, the rest of Oliveira’s plan should be easier to achieve: After fighting three times in 2018, he wants to stay active. UFC on ESPN 3, which takes place April 27 at at Miami’s American Airlines Arena, would suit him just fine.

In the meantime, Oliveira gets to enjoy a shining moment in his record-breaking career. Not only is he in a solid streak, in which his well-known submission game has proven as sharp as ever, but he’s also been also to showcase the strides made on his striking.

For proof of that, look no further than the beautiful elbow that spelled the beginning of the end of Teymur’s unbeaten run in the UFC. Landing that type of technically challenging shot on a striker might not be what many expected of Oliveira, but make no mistake: The “Anderson Silva elbow” was by no means a fluke.

“I’ve been training it all the time,” Oliveira said. “I threw two spinning fists and (one of my coaches) said ‘He caught on to it, spin the other way.’ I feigned and threw the elbow. We did that in the locker room, we’ve been saying ‘The Anderson Silva elbow, the Anderson Silva elbow.’ And it landed. My striking has been evolving more and more, thanks to (coach Diego) Lima.”

After the shot landed, Oliveira says he didn’t make a conscious decision between attempting to end the fight on his feet or resort to his go-to and try to tap Teymur out. He just focused on throwing bombs and getting it done. Safe to say, mission accomplished, and Oliveira credits a lot of it to the guidance of his team.

“My corners have been fantastic,” Oliveira said. “In my fight against Jim Miller, ‘Macaco’ and Lima said, ‘Kick the inside of his leg and come in with the right, because he’ll feel it and shoot,’ and that’s what happened. I kicked, threw a big right, he felt it, came for my legs and Macaco said, ‘Don’t be hasty, sprawl and you’ll get it.’

“(At UFC Fight Night 137), Lima said ‘How are you feeling?’ I said ‘100 percent,’ he said ‘You’re too panicky. Be calm.’ I took him down, stayed calm and he gave me the back. Same thing with this fight: My hand landed, thank God, he shot for my legs and jiu-jitsu worked.”

It was his team who also helped Oliveira not lose focus after Teymur’s multiple eye pokes during the fight.

“I didn’t expect that finger to the eye – once, twice, three times in a row,” Oliveira said. “The first one, I thought it was an accident, but two in a row, I took it as malicious and ended up letting it get to my head a bit, I wanted to trade blows angrily there. But, thankfully, I have an amazing team, who told me to be calm, get back and focus. I think, once more, I showed my evolution on the feet and I”m very happy.”

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