Former UFC Lightweight Champion Charles Oliveira went on Dan Hooker for rejecting the UFC Rio Headliner.
Charles Oliveira will make a relatively rapid change on 11 October to headline UFC Rio against dangerous competition Rafael Fiziev. Oliveira returns to the Octagon for the first time since a knockout loss for Ilia Topuria for the then vacant UFC light weight title on UFC 317.
The return of Oliveira comes at a time of uncertainty in the UFC Lightweight Division. The first title defense of Topuria was not announced after Topuria recently closed a matchup with top candidate Arman Tsarukyan.
But Topuria is reportedly not the only top light weight that rejects fights. Dan Hooker, a UFC fan favorite that was sidelined in 2025 with a hand injury, came to Oliveira's nerves when he reportedly rejected the chance of being Oliveira's opponent in Rio.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Charles Oliveira Bashes Dan Hooker and accuses him to reject UFC Rio Fight
During a recent interview with AG. Fighting, Oliveira focused on Hooker and the rest of the top light weights.
“I am not a man who goes around with playing games. But I was offered names, and they didn't even want it. So today, when you release this, these guys will tweet” coward! I didn't want it, he didn't want it! “But it's a lie, my whole life has been like that,” said Oliveira.
'They poke around, talk – from the other side. When I say, “Come on, I'm here,” they take it and run the other way.
“This guy [Dan Hooker] Is also just talking for a long time. This soap opera, it has been going on for years. He spoke and spoke and spoke, and it never happened. So it's really all talked. That is the reality. He spoke a lot of nonsense, a man who speaks a lot of nonsense on the internet, but when he is called, he doesn't go. “
At the moment Hooker has not responded to the claims of Oliveira. Hooker was reportedly offered, but rejected, a fight on UFC Perth opposite Tsarukyan while he continues to recover from his hand injury.
Hooker has not fought last year since a victory over Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 305. The victory pushed Hooker in the top 5, but his constant absence has seen him fall out of the lock.
Wining Oliveira at UFC Rio could possibly move him back to the title mix and one step closer to another shot in Topuria. But a UFC Hall of Famer believes that Oliveira returns too soon after the devastating knockout.
UFC legend does not agree with Charles Oliveira's decision to fight so soon after devastating Ko
Daniel Cormier expressed an enormous concern about Oliveira after comparing his knockout loss with when he fell to Jon Jones by TKO on UFC 214. Cormier revealed that he was offered a fight immediately after the loss of Jones, which he struck to repair the damage he suffered.
But the defeat of Oliveira against Topuria was one of the few times that he has been eliminated in his legendary UFC career. Before UFC 317, the last TKO/Ko loss of Oliveira against Paul Felder in 2017 against Paul Felder.
Despite Cormier's concerns, Oliveira will fight for the first time since 2020 in his competitive return to Brazil.