To the victor belong the spoils — and the murals.
Newly-crowned UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira will join previous titleholders like Ronda Rousey and Petr Yan, among others, in the spray-paint hall of fame thanks to Brazilian artist Wilis Cavalcante and this latest offering in Oliveira’s hometown of Guaruja.
Let’s hope nobody spits on this one.
“I’ve always wanted to paint something about Charles and didn’t even think about the fight that was coming up,” Cavalcante told MMA Fighting. “He’s awesome. I found that gigantic wall and said, ‘this is it.’ And it turned out that it was right around his title fight. I woke up on Sunday without knowing the result of the fight. I got a lot of texts saying he won and it was so much celebration. I watched some highlights of the fight and went back to the wall to finish the mural. It was amazing.”
Watch highlights of his title-winning performance here.
Oliveira, still just 31, improved to 31-8 (1 NC) by finishing former Bellator MMA champion Michael Chandler in the UFC 262 pay-per-view (PPV) main event last weekend in Houston, Texas, and is expected to face the winner of Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier, who collide at UFC 264 in July.
A closer look at the mural process below.
For more results and fallout from UFC 262 click here.