What did Charles Oliveira look like as a kid and what disease did he have?

Charles Oliveira is one of the best fighters in the world right now. He won the 2022 Fighter of the Year ESPY award and is third in the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings. However, he hasn't always had it easy.

As a youngster growing up in the poorer suburbs of Guaruja, Sao Paulo, Oliveira endured consistent body pain and faced difficulty walking at times. He was diagnosed with rheumatic fever and abnormal heart murmurs, which took a toll on his ankle.

'Do Bronx' was written off by the doctor and told that he would never walk again, and was often bedridden after that. Oliveira spoke about his diagnosis in an interview with ESPN MMA ahead of his UFC 274 bout against Justin Gaethje:

"The doctors said that I couldn't play sports, but as I told my father and mother, I would rather die than stop doing the things I liked. I believed in the sport, I had faith in God, and he blessed me, as he has been blessing me until today."

The former lightweight champion also recently took to Instagram to share a couple of his childhood pictures. He reminisced over his journey to the pinnacle of mixed martial arts and expressed his gratitude:

"Thank you Jesus for everything 🙌❤️🙏 The dream boy reached his dreams 🙌 Just gratitude 🙏" [translation via Instagram]

In the accompanying pictures, junior Oliveira mirrors his older self with folded hands and an uncanny smile as he dons his Gi.

Check out his post below:

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Joe Rogan praises Charles Oliveira's jiu-jitsu

Charles Oliveira is set to face off against Islam Makhachev in a bid to reclaim his lightweight championship. At UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi, the two will fight each other for a maximum of five rounds with gold on the line.

The two fighters are incredibly skilled and highly-regarded for their ground game. Joe Rogan discussed Oliveira's jiu-jitsu on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience:

"If you get a guy like Charles Oliveira who's that good at jiu-jitsu, he could strangle a f**king heavyweight... Oliveira's jiu-jitsu is some of the best I have ever seen in MMA. It is like world championship calibre jiu-jitsu. But he's doing it in an MMA match. He's the one guy where it doesn't matter what happens in the fight, if you go to the ground with him you are in deep s**t."

Rogan praised Charles Oliveira's jiu-jitsu and cited it as the best across mixed martial arts. Come UFC 280, 'Do Bronx' will hope to put it to good use against Islam Makhachev.

Catch Joe Rogan's full comments below: