Charles Oliveira Calls Fans to Pack UFC 335 BMF Title Defense
Charles Oliveira will defend the BMF title against Diego Lopes in the main event of UFC 335, and he wants the building full before the first bell.
The fight is set for December 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Oliveira confirmed the date in a video to fans and asked them to fill both the arena and the weigh-ins.
“So there it is: December 12th, UFC Las Vegas, Charles Oliveira versus Diego Lopes, BMF belt,” Oliveira said. “The champion has a name, is named Charles Oliveira, and he is very hungry.”
He kept the message on the crowd, not the game plan. Oliveira told supporters he was counting on them to bring the belt back with him.
“I count on the positive energy of all of you. Let’s pack the arena, let’s pack the weigh-in, let’s shout our name up there one hundred percent,” he said. “I need you in this wonderful energy so that we may bring this belt once again to our home. The belt is mine. This belt is ours.”
He closed with the date and the matchup. “We are together. Charles Oliveira vs Diego Lopes, December 12th. It’s us, damn it.”
Oliveira is 37-11 and is making the first defense of the BMF belt. He took it from Max Holloway by unanimous decision on March 7 at UFC 326, also at T-Mobile Arena.
That win came after a second-round submission of Mateusz Gamrot. A successful defense in December would make him the first fighter to keep the BMF title.
Lopes is 28-8 and is moving up from featherweight for the fight. His last outing was a second-round knockout of Steve Garcia in June at UFC Freedom 250.
That finish followed a unanimous decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski. The step to 155 pounds puts him in against a former undisputed lightweight champion rather than another featherweight contender.
The poster lists the bout as a BMF title fight and a lightweight bout. Oliveira is the champion on the graphic. Lopes is the challenger coming up in weight.
Oliveira is the UFC’s all-time leader in submission wins. Lopes has built his recent name on a knockout, which gives the main event a grappler-versus-finisher shape even though both men can strike.
The card already has a five-round co-main. Alex Pereira meets Sergei Pavlovich at heavyweight on the same night, so UFC 335 now has a title fight on top and a ranked heavyweight bout underneath it.
Oliveira did not use the video to break down Lopes. He used it to set the date, claim the belt, and ask the Brazilian support to show up at the scale and in the arena.
That ask fits the building. He won the title in Las Vegas in March, and the first defense is booked for the same arena in December.
The BMF belt is not the undisputed lightweight championship. It is still the strap he is defending, and he treated it that way in the message.
“The belt is mine. This belt is ours,” Oliveira said.
Lopes has not answered in the clip. His path into the fight runs through the Garcia knockout and the move up from 145 pounds.
December 12 is the night. T-Mobile Arena is the site. Oliveira has already told the fans where he wants them, at the weigh-in and in the seats, for the first defense of the belt he took from Holloway.
