Throughout history, humanity has been fascinated with secret weapons. The McGraw-Hill Science and Technology Dictionary defines a secret weapon as a weapon closely guarded or kept under concealment so as to be used before countermeasures can be taken against it.
The British government had exploding rats and time bombs made to look like Chianti bottles in World War 2. Nikola Tesla proclaimed to have the technical know-how to invent a secret death ray in the 1930’s.
The United States of America deployed a super secret weapon of nightmarish proportions in Iraq capable of firing concentrated doses of invisible frequencies that could wither opposing soldiers and civilians into a primordial soup of human splatter in milliseconds. So what or who is the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s secret weapon?
Look no further than Charles Oliveira. Assembled on Oct. 17, 1989, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Oliveira may be the UFC’s best-kept secret. With a total of 16 fights under his belt, the 5-foot-10 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/Muay Thai practitioner has left a trail of destruction in his wake.
If Quentin Tarantino rewrote the American crime classic Pulp Fiction with an MMA twist, he’d probably cast Dana White as Marsellus Wallace, Stephan Bonnar as Vincent Vega, and Jon Bones Jones as Jules Winnfield.
White’s character would send Bonnar and Jones to retrieve the UFC’s secret weapon-a mysterious silver briefcase with a transcendental glimmer that revealed the source of Charles Oliveira’s fighting spirit.
Somewhere in between all of this, chance would have Bonnar and Bones dining in a crowded restaurant where Rashad Evans was staging an outlandish robbery and coupe de grace.
Evans would make his way to Bones and Bonnar’s table, attempt to steal the briefcase along with Bones’s wallet, and live to regret his not so serendipitous showdown with the UFC light heavyweight champion.
The movie would end as the briefcase arrived safely in Milwaukee, Wisc. on the eve of Charles Oliveira’s lightweight showdown with Donald Cerrone.
Is Charles Oliveira really the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s best-kept secret? We’ll let you decide!