Israeli fighter reacts to Charles Oliveira arriving at UFC 300 with Jewish prayer shawl around his neck
Charles Oliveira suffered his second loss in his past three fights this past weekend as he fell to Arman Tsarukyan via split decision on the main card of UFC 300. The former lightweight champion arrived at the arena wearing a Jewish prayer shawl around his neck, which led to praise from Israeli fighter Natan Levy.
Twitter user @itsdiesl shared a photo of 'do Bronx' arriving at the arena, captioning the post:
"@CharlesDoBronxs with the Jewish tefillin before his fight tonight at #UFC300"
Levy, who is the only Israeli fighter on the UFC roster, responded by praising Oliveira:
"Wow, the champ @CharlesDoBronxs with a Talit 🙌🏼 [Brazilian flag] [Israeli flag]"
Check out the photo of Charles Oliveira and the response from Natan Levy below:
Oliveira has not commented on the prayer shawl. It is unclear if 'do Bronx' donned it for fashion purposes or to make a political statement after Iran declared war on Israel and attacked them earlier in the day.
Charles Oliveira comments on loss to Arman Tsarukyan
Charles Oliveira suffered a narrow split-decision loss to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300. The Brazilian released a message to fans on social media following the loss, stating in Portuguese:
"Hello, my family. I just want to thank everyone with all my heart. Not every day is going to be a day of glory. It was a hard fight. We had the opportunity to submit or even knock him out, but I couldn’t find myself. I got some stitches over my eye, I’m a bit swollen, but I’m fine. I already cried. It’s part of the game. I’m going to move on now. I will return home, be with my family, and start training again."
He continued:
"I hope that you will continue to cheer for me because everything I’m going through in life now is wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. What I can promise is that I will come back stronger. It’s the game, there’s not much to be done. I had a wonderful camp, a wonderful weight cut this week, but that’s it. Today wasn’t the day. It wasn’t meant to be. Thank you. I’m fine, and I’ll come back better."
Check out Charles Oliveira's statement below:
Oliveira was unable to win a second consecutive fight and solidify his title case in a back-and-forth bout that came down to the third and final round. It is unclear who the former lightweight champion will face next. However, he will likely need to string together multiple wins to work his way back into a crowded title picture.