Charles Oliveira: ‘Even with my illness, I always believed I could achieve any dream I had’

If it is a miracle that Charles Oliveira can walk, perhaps no word exists to sufficiently describe the Brazilian’s UFC career.

Up until he was seven years old, Oliveira was no different than any of the other children in the impoverished favela of Vicente de Carvalho in Guaruja, Sao Paulo; he spent every waking moment playing football, apathetic to the dearth of opportunities in the village, determined to convert his passion for the sport into a career.

While the conditions in Vicente de Carvalho were not exactly the type to incubate Oliveira’s dream, he decided that they were also not the type to extinguish it. Remarkably, neither was a doctor’s prognosis that Oliveira could become paraplegic.

The Brazilian received the news aged seven, a result of his affliction by Rheumatic fever, which left him in frequent, intense pain and even unable to walk at times. To add insult to illness, Oliveira was also diagnosed with a heart murmur.

Twenty-five years on, he is one of the greatest mixed martial artists on the planet.

While Oliveira’s dream of becoming a professional footballer did not materialise, he was nevertheless able to overcome his illness to excel at jiu-jitsu and go on to become one of Brazil’s most inspiring sporting figures: the UFC lightweight champion, a fighter with more finishes and submission wins than any other in the company’s history.

“With my illness, I never thought I wouldn’t be able to achieve my dreams,” Oliveira tells The Independent over Zoom, his t-shirt seemingly on the verge of disintegration from the sweat induced by an afternoon spent training.

“I always believed and had a lot of faith that any dream I had, I could achieve it. Of course, as with any kid at the time, I just wanted to play