Vinicius Oliveira tasted defeat for the first time in his UFC career on Saturday, and the Brazilian now says a serious injury played a major role in the outcome. Oliveira tapped to a rear-naked choke against Mario Bautista in the UFC Vegas 113 main event on Feb. 8 in Las Vegas, later revealing that he entered the fight with a fractured arm.
Speaking to AG Fight after the bout, Vinicius Oliveira disclosed that he broke the ulna bone in his right forearm on Dec. 19, just 51 days before stepping into the Octagon. Despite the injury, Oliveira chose not to pull out of the headlining contest.
“I could have cancelled the fight,” Oliveira said. “I broke my arm. There wasn’t much I could do, but I decided to move forward. For a good while, we trained with my arm in a cast. It was actually a bit reckless on our part. We kept it under wraps, but I was determined to fight regardless of the injury.”
Oliveira admitted the injury resurfaced almost immediately once the fight hit the mat. Bautista leaned heavily on his grappling, and Oliveira struggled to defend and scramble due to the pain.
“I got taken down and couldn’t do the shield to get back up because that was exactly where it hurt,” Oliveira said. “I tried, but it hurt too much. I said in between rounds that it was hurting. We went on through the pain, but it was really bad. I started throwing jabs, but even just the movement of punching air hurt a lot.”
Bautista ultimately capitalized in the second round, locking in a rear-naked choke to secure the submission win. The result snapped Oliveira’s unbeaten UFC run and handed him his first loss in nearly four years.
Following the fight, Vinicius Oliveira received a 180-day medical suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission. He also revealed he may need to rethink his future at bantamweight after enduring what he described as the worst weight cut of his career.
“It was the worst weight cut of my career because I couldn’t train properly, and that made it harder to lose the weight,” Oliveira said. “I had to train moderately. I couldn’t do cardio because any movement of my arm hurt.”
Oliveira added that he walks around at roughly 185 pounds outside of camp and had to shed close to 50 pounds between Monday and Friday fight week, a process made even tougher by the injury.
Before the loss, Vinicius Oliveira stood 4-0 in the UFC with notable wins over Said Nurmagomedov and Ricky Simon, along with a first-round knockout on Dana White’s Contender Series. While UFC Vegas 113 didn’t go as planned, Oliveira insists the setback tells only part of the story and expects to return healthier and stronger once fully recovered.
