For the second year in a row, a son of Brazil is Sherdog.com’s “Fighter of the Year.”
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight titleholder Charles Oliveira delivered record-setting results in 2021 and joins last year’s honoree, then-UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, as the second set of back-to-back Brazilian winners since the award was established in 2003. Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio Rua, named in 2004 and 2005 for their work in Pride Fighting Championships, along with Jose Aldo, recognized following a stellar 2009 campaign in World Extreme Cagefighting, round out the award’s five Brazilian recipients.