Charles Oliveira has no plans of walking away anytime soon.
Ahead of his UFC Fight Night 261 headliner vs. Rafael Fiziev (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) in Rio de Janeiro on Oct. 11, Oliveira (35-11 MMA, 23-11 UFC) has grown tired of media asking him about his retirement plans. He clarified that hanging up his gloves hasn’t even crossed his mind.
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“No, no, no – forget it,” Oliveira told Ag Fight (h/t Championship Rounds). “People are trying to retire me before I want to. I haven’t even thought about retirement. In every interview I’ve done today, all of them asked me about retirement. I have no desire to retire whatsoever.
“I don’t want to retire. There’s a lot that needs to happen. I’m very happy with what I’m doing. I’m only 35. there’s a lot still to come. So stop talking about retirement. I don’t want to retire.”
Those talks perhaps emerged due to 35-year-old Oliveira coming off the first clean knockout loss of his career to Ilia Topuria at UFC 317 in June. Many questioned his quick turnaround against a dangerous striker in Fiziev, but Oliveira assured he was cleared to compete less than four months removed from the Topuria knockout.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Forget retirement, Charles Oliveira still has plenty of fight left